Pharmacotherapy
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To identify risk factors associated with bleeding in patients who received alteplase for pulmonary embolism (PE), with a specific focus on risk factors available to the clinician at the time thrombolytics are being considered. ⋯ Risk factors for bleeding that are available to clinicians at the time the decision is made to administer alteplase for PE are significantly associated with the occurrence of major bleeding; the odds of major bleeding in patients with one or more risk factors for bleeding were ~5 times higher than in patients without these risk factors. Thus clinicians should weigh these risk factors for bleeding against the perceived benefit of thrombolytic therapy when deciding to administer a thrombolytic in an individual patient with PE.