Nursing NUR301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Thrombolysis, Shortness Of Breath, Lightheadedness
Document Summary
Pulmonary embolism(pe) is a fatal and a life threatening disease that involves the blockage of the main artery of the lung or any of its branches through a substance that may have reached the lungs through the bloodstream. A common reason for this type of blockage is a clot in the blood. A blood clot may be large or small in size, and there may be muliple clots. The classic presentaion is the abrupt onset of pleuriic chest pain, shortness of breath, and hypoxia. However, most paients with pulmonary embolism have no obvious symptoms at presentaion. Rather, symptoms may vary from sudden catastrophic hemodynamic collapse to gradually progressive dyspnea. The pain will get worse with exerion but won"t go away when you rest: hemoptysis/cough: the cough may produce bloody or blood-streaked sputum, shortness of breath: this symptom typically appears suddenly and always gets worse with exerion.
