Grant: Project Grant

Pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lung) can cause death and long-term illness. About half a million Canadians are tested for blood clots in the lung each year. Most Canadians who are tested for blood clots turn out not to have blood clots. Emergency doctors don't follow guidelines for how to test for blood clots and often order scans of the chest. Scans diagnose blood clots, but they also use radiation which can cause cancer, they lead to long delays in the emergency department and they cost money. Instead of ordering a scan to test for blood clots, emergency doctors can use bedside tests and a blood test called D-dimer to tell them if a scan is needed. Existing bedside tests are not used because they are too complicated and time consuming. Our research team has developed a new, easy-to-use bedside test which is designed for emergency doctors and emergency patients. Our test tells emergency doctors if a scan is needed. To date, our research shows this is a safe test. We will study our new bedside test with 4,000 emergency department patients who are being tested for blood clots in the lungs. After testing, patients are told to come back to the emergency department if their symptoms don't go away. We will record if study patients are diagnosed with blood clots after having a negative bedside test. Our study will also tell us how many people end up needing a scan with this new bedside test. If our study proves the new bedside test is safe and effective, it will be used by emergency doctors to test for blood clots in the future. We think our test could save time, reduce costs and tailor blood clot testing for each person.