Enzymatic Levels in Pulmonary Infarction

Abstract

Studies of human postmortem material show that pulmonary infarctions are found in 5% to 25% of patients coming to autopsy, and evidence indicates that less than one in three of these pulmonary infarcts found at autopsy is diagnosed prior to the death of the patient.^1-11 Gorham, in calling attention to the syndrome of increasing pulmonary hypertension and cor pulmonale resulting from repeated small emboli to the pulmonary arterial branches,⁶ delineates a group of cases with pulmonary infarctions which tax further the diagnostic skills of the surgeon. With surgical procedures available to apply effectively in many patients when embolism can be recognized, many investigators have sought assistance in the diagnosis of pulmonary infarction. Since enzymes have been helpful in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction by virtue of the increased levels of enzymatic activity in the serum when infarcted myocardial tissue is present, the possibility of a parallel in the