The Pulmonary Embolism Rule-Out Criteria (PERC) meets the standard of care for Emergency Medicine (EM)
It is the position of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine that, when properly applied to an individual patient for whom the clinician already has a low clinical suspicion for PE, based on a gestalt impression, the Pulmonary Embolism Rule-Out Criteria (PERC) meets the standard of care for EM. When a patient is PERC negative no further diagnostic work up for pulmonary embolism is required including D-dimer measurement and the performance of advanced imaging studies (CT pulmonary angiography and VQ scanning).
References:
- Kline JA, et al. Prospective multicenter evaluation of the pulmonary embolism rule-out criteria. J Thromb Haemost 2008; 6:772-80.
- Singh B, et al. Diagnostic accuracy of pulmonary embolism rule-out criteria: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Emerg Med 2012; 59: 517-20.
Approved: 2/21/14