The risk for fatal pulmonary embolism after discontinuing anticoagulant therapy for venous thromboembolism.

BACKGROUND: The long-term risk for fatal pulmonary embolism (PE) after treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) may be an important factor in the decision to discontinue this treatment. OBJECTIVE: To provide reliable and precise estimates of the annual risk for fatal PE and the case-fatality rate of disease recurrence and to assess these outcomes according to the initial presentation of VTE (deep venous thrombosis [DVT], PE, or both) and its …