Venous Thromboembolism: Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention

Recent large-scale studies using radioactive tracers to identify deep vein thrombi show that pulmonary embolism is now largely preventable in high-risk hospitalized patients through prophylaxis with low-dose heparin or a pulsating boot. In outpatients with leg pain, the problem of separating the 20% who have a thrombus from the 80% who do not can often be resolved by phlebography performed on an ambulatory basis.