A new diagnostic test for pulmonary embolism: how good and how costly?

Pulmonary embolism is said to be an underdiagnosed disease, an overdiagnosed disease, a life-threatening entity and a masquerader. Little wonder that there is intense interest in developing technics to diagnose it more accurately. Dalen and Alpert estimate that there are over 600,000 new cases of pulmonary embolism in the United States annually. Three quarters of these cases lack a correct diagnosis, and among these patients, the mortality is 30 per cent. Of those in whom the diagnosis is made and treatment instituted, the mortality rate is estimated as 8 per cent. (August 10, 1978)