Breath test screens for pulmonary embolisms:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
A bedside breath test that measures exhaled carbon dioxide levels could be used as a screening test for blood clots in the lungs of critically ill patients who have undergone surgery, a US team has found. The carbon dioxide expirogram, which may help some patients avoid undergoing a more invasive pulmonary angiography test, identified all five patients with pulmonary embolism and correctly identified eight of the nine patients who did not have a blood clot in their lungs, according to the study, published in the August edition of the Archives of Surgery. The test can be performed using equipment already available in hospitals.