Comparison of pulmonary thromboembolism before and after the autopsy in patients with trauma

it is well established that pulmonary thromboembolism is frequent in patients with trauma, in this study we compared pulmonary thromboembolism before and after the autopsy in patients with trauma
In this cross-sectional study, the patients being referred to three of teaching hospitals of Tehran from March 2015 to March 2016 because of trauma and died in hospital due to the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism were recruited. Then the patients were autopsied and the cause of death was evaluated and the frequency of PE was compared before and after the autopsy.
Findings:168 patients with PE (108 males 64.3%and 60females35.7%) mean age 48.5 years were evaluated. after the autopsy, PE was diagnosed in 50% of the patients. The correlation between age and autopsy was significant (r=0.47, P=0.006), however, the correlation between sex, underlying disease, and the hospitalization duration was not significant.
we indicated that among patients with trauma, 50% of premortem diagnosis of PE did not confirm by autopsy, additionally we indicated that age was significantly correlated to the PE.