Volumetric capnography to exclude pulmonary embolism at the emergency room

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a potentially lethal pathology which is hard to exclude without expensive imaging techniques. Recent literature suggests the use of end-tidal PCO2 (PETCO2) as a useful parameter to exclude PE. Analysis of the entire curve of the PCO2 in expired air (volumetric capnography, VCap), contains more information. VCap was performed in subjects seen at the emergency room with D-dimer > 500 µg/L or Wells-score > 4. The association with PE was tested with age, weight, height, Wells score, D-dimer, PETCO2, the calculated anatomic dead space (VDaw/Vt) and the slope of the alveolar phase of the VCap (slope III). Variables with p