Can Echocardiography Be Used to Diagnose Pulmonary Embolism at the Bedside?

The search strategy yielded 5,905 potential references, of which 24 full-text articles were included in the final analysis; pulmonary embolism prevalence was 40.8%. Study design was prospective in 17 studies and retrospective in 7. Risk of bias was low in 7 studies, high in 4, and unclear in the remaining 13. Echocardiograms were performed by physicians in 9 studies (3 by emergency physicians, 5 by cardiologists, and 1 unclear) and at the point of care in 7 studies; 7 studies were conducted solely in the ED.

http://ift.tt/2yuhdeU