Pulmonary embolism and venous thrombosis. A pattern of incidence and predisposing factors over 70 years.

Due to the frequency with which fatal pulmonary embolism gives rise to medicolegal issues when allegedly a sequel to some injury or surgical intervention, some baseline information as to the general incidence and major predisposing factors is offered, extracted from the records of a university pathology institute over a 70-year period. It is clear that the condition was vitually unrecognized during the early part of the century. Using modern autopsy techniques, the incidence of venous thrombosis can be shown to considerably higher than that revealed by more cursory routine examination. Though trauma and medical and surgical procedures are associated with the majority of fatal pulmonary emboli, there is medicolegal significance in the fact that an appreciable residue have no evidence of such predisposing factors.