• Peiman Nazerian, Giovanni Volpicelli, Chiara Gigli, Cecilia Becattini, Giuseppe Francesco Sferrazza Papa, Stefano Grifoni, Simone Vanni, and Ultrasound Wells Study Group.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Careggi University Hospital, Firenze.
• Acad Emerg Med. 2017 Mar 1; 24 (3): 270-280.

ObjectiveLung and venous ultrasound are bedside diagnostic tools increasingly used in the early diagnostic approach of suspected pulmonary embolism (PE). However, the possibility of improving the conventional prediction rule for PE by integrating ultrasound has never been investigated.MethodsWe performed lung and venous ultrasound in consecutive patients suspected of PE in four emergency departments. Conventional Wells score (Ws) was adjudicated by the attending physician, and ultrasound was performed by one of 20 investigators. Signs of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) at venous ultrasound and signs of pulmonary infarcts or alternative diagnoses at lung ultrasound were considered to recalculate two items of the Ws: signs and symptoms of DVT and alternative diagnosis less likely than PE. The diagnostic performances of the ultrasound-enhanced Ws (USWs) and Ws were then compared after confirmation of the final diagnosis.ResultsA total of 446 patients were studied. PE was confirmed in 125 patients (28%). USWs performed significantly better than Ws, with a sensitivity of 69.6% versus 57.6% and a specificity of 88.2% versus 68.2%. In combination with D-dimer, USWs showed an optimal failure rate (0.8%) and a significantly superior efficiency than Ws (32.3% vs. 27.2%). A strategy based on lung and venous ultrasound combined with D-dimer would allow to avoid CT pulmonary angiography in 50.5% of patients with suspected PE, compared to 27.2% when the rule without ultrasound is applied.ConclusionsA pretest risk stratification enhanced by ultrasound of lung and venous performs better than Ws in the early diagnostic process of PE.© 2016 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

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