Prediction of Pretest Probability Scoring Systems in Pulmonary Embolism: Wells, Kline and Geneva

Abstract

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a clinical entity with high mortality rate and therefore rapid diagnosis is necessary. For this purpose many diagnostic strategies have been developed for avoiding or necessitating further investigations. The hallmark of these strategies is assessing the pretest clinic probability of PE. In this study, the effectiveness of Wells, Geneva and Kline methods were investigated in a university hospital emergency department. 74 patients were enrolled in this study. The inter-group differences in scoring systems were significant for Wells and Kline but non-significant for Geneva method. The diagnosis of PE was correlated with Wells and Kline system but Geneva system lacked it. The Receiver Operating Characteristic analyses was performed for comparing the pretest clinical probability scoring sys tems and the greatest area under the curve was found in Wells system. Wells method seems more useful compared to Geneva and Kline methods particularly in emergency department.