Postmortem Arteriographic Studies of the Human Lung in Pulmonary Embolization

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Abstract
PULMONARY EMBOLISM is now the most common lethal pulmonary disease in adults seen at necropsy in the general hospital population. It is the third most common nonlethal pulmonary lesion after pneumonia and emphysema. In 1960, it was the third most common cause of death in this hospital; it was the main cause of death in 15% of the patients autopsied, and it was a major contributory cause in an additional 19%. These findings promoted the study of the number, size, and distribution of pulmonary emboli, and of the pulmonary parenchymal and circulatory alterations resulting from them. Previous reports have considered particular aspects of the physiology or pathology of pulmonary embolism, but without detailed correlation of one approach with others. The methods used have not identified smaller emboli, or delineated the extent of anatomic alterations. Moreover, there has been no method for estimating the number of emboli or the reduction in