For a diagnosis of Pulmonary embolism, the following list of conditions have been mentioned in sources as possible alternative diagnoses to consider during the diagnostic process for Pulmonary embolism:
The other diseases for which Pulmonary embolism is listed as a possible alternative diagnosis in their lists include:
Causes of Pulmonary embolism may include these medical conditions:
Related medical mistakes may include:
Commonly undiagnosed conditions in related areas may include:
Heart attacks can be undiagnosed: Although the most severe symptoms of heart attack are hard to miss, there are varying degrees of severity. It is altogether too common for people to die from undiagnosed heart attack, or from delaying too long to call for emergency help. The prognosis for treatment is far better for patients treated in the early stages of a heart attack. The most common misdiagnoses include heartburn, or other less severe causes of chest pain. See the introduction to heart attack and the symptoms of heart attack.
Heart attacks can be overdiagnosed: Although many people die from heart attacks, there are also many cases where people fear that they have a heart attack, but actually have something milder. Some of the conditions which may be causes of chest pain, causing fear of a heart attack, including an anxiety attack, heartburn, and so on. See the causes of chest pain and the symptoms of heart attack.
Rare heart condition often undiagnosed: The rare heart condition called long QT syndrome can lead to episodes of palpitations and rapid heartbeat. In rare cases, this undiagnosed condition can be fatal. It should be considered for any unexplained heart rhythm abnormality.
Heart attack can be over-diagnosed: Although heart attack is often undiagnosed, leading to fatality, it can also be over-diagnosed. People become concerned that a condition is a heart attack, whereas there are various less dangerous possibilities. After all, there are numerous causes of chest pain. Some of the common conditions where a person may become concerned about a possible heart attack include a panic attack (which often has both chest pain and difficulty breathing), and heartburn/reflux type conditions. Nevertheless, chest pain itself can be a potentially life-threatening symptoms, and needs immediate professional attention.
Blood pressure cuffs misdiagnose hypertension in children: One known misdiagnosis issue with hyperension, arises in relation to the simple equipment used to test blood pressure. The "cuff" around the arm to measure blood pressure can simply be too small to accurately test a child's blood pressure. This can lead to an incorrect diagnosis of a child with hypertension. The problem even has a name unofficially: "small cuff syndrome". See misdiagnosis of hypertension.
Hypertension misdiagnosis common in children: Hypertension is often misdiagnosed in adults (see misdiagnosis of hypertension), but its misdiagnosis is even more likely in children. Some of the symptoms of hypertension that can be overlooked include chest pain, headaches, abdominal pain, etc. See symptoms of hypertension or misdiagnosis of hypertension.
Chronic lung diseases hard to diagnose: Some of the chronic lung diseases are difficult to diagnose. Even the well-knowns conditions such as asthma or lung cancer often fail to be diagnosed early. Some of the chronic lung diseases with diagnostic difficulties include asthma (perhaps surprisingly), COPD, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, mesothelioma, smoker's cough, AIDS-related respiratory conditions (see AIDS), chronic pneumonia, and other respiratory diseases. Rare possibilities include diseases like psittacosis (bird-related lung infection). See other types of chronic lung diseases.
differentiate the causes of hemoptysis: Hemoptysis is the presence of blood in the sputum. Hemoptysis is graded according to the volume of blood. It points out to pathology in the lungs. The source of the bleeding is usually said to be the bronchial artery. The condition requires immediate treatment. Other symptoms associated along with hemoptysis must be looked into so as to categorize the disease from each other. Acute hemoptysis may present along with breathlessness in cases of pulmonary embolism and mitral stenosis which is a medical emergency. It can also occur in cases of chronic cough such as tuberculosis, bronchiectasis and lung carcinoma. A complete workup of the patient is required to rule out cardiac cause of hemoptysis from that of lung pathology
Pulmonary embolism- medical emergency: Pulmonary embolism is a common and potentially lethal disease; unfortunately, the diagnosis is often missed because patients with pulmonary embolism present with non-specific signs and symptoms. If left untreated, approximately one third of patients who survive an initial pulmonary embolism subsequently die from a future embolic episode. Most patients succumb to pulmonary embolism within the first few hours of the event. In patients who survive, recurrent embolism and death can be prevented with prompt diagnosis and therapy. In hospitalized elderly patients, pulmonary embolism is commonly missed and often is the cause of death. Most patients treated with anticoagulants do not develop long-term sequelae upon follow-up evaluation.
Fatal causes of chest pain: Chest pain is a common condition yet very threatening to both the patient and the doctor because the underlying aetiology many a times can be lethal especially if it is of sudden onset. Chest pain is usually considered as myocardial ischemia unless proved otherwise. Most important causes that are to be kept in mind and to differentiate from one another would be myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, aortic dissection and tension pneumothorax. Myocardial infarction must be differentiated from aortic dissection oesophageal reflux and spasm, anxiety and pericarditis. History remains most important clinical factor to diagnose. Unfortunately, myocardial infarction and angina are often missed.
Rare case of Goodpasture syndrome: Good pasture syndrome is a rare autoimmune disease. Patients with this disease experience a rapid progression to renal failure and death if not recognized and treated early. It can be misdiagnosed as Wegener’s granulomatosis, polyarteritis nodosa, systemic lupus erythematosus etc. the occurrence of hemoptysis in Good pasture’s syndrome can lead to misdiagnosis as other disease states like left ventricular failure, atrioventricular fistula, pulmonary embolism and hypertension. A complete analysis of the patient’s history and investigations helps in coming to the right diagnosis.
Rare types of medical disorders and diseases in related medical areas:
The following medical news items are relevant to misdiagnosis of Pulmonary embolism:
Read these general articles with an overview of misdiagnosis issues.
When checking for a misdiagnosis of Pulmonary embolism or confirming a diagnosis of Pulmonary embolism, it is useful to consider what other medical conditions might be possible misdiagnoses or other alternative conditions relevant to diagnosis. These alternate diagnoses of Pulmonary embolism may already have been considered by your doctor or may need to be considered as possible alternative diagnoses or candidates for misdiagnosis of Pulmonary embolism. For a general overview of misdiagnosis issues for all diseases, see Overview of Misdiagnosis.
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