The international surgical journal with global reach

This is the Scientific Surgery Archive, which contains all randomized clinical trials in surgery that have been identified by searching the top 50 English language medical journal issues since January 1998. Compiled by Jonothan J. Earnshaw, former Editor-in-Chief, BJS

Thrombolysis for pulmonary embolism and risk of all-cause mortality, major bleeding and intracranial haemorrhage. A meta-analysis. JAMA 2014; 311: 2414-2421.

Published: 5th February 2015

Authors: Chatterjee S, Chakraborty A, Weinberg I, Kadakia M, Wilensky RL, Sardar P et al. et al.

Conclusion

In this analysis of 1775 patients, lysis reduced all cause mortality from 3.9 to 2.2 per cent (odds ratio 0.53, 95 per cent confidence interval 0.32 to 0.88; number needed to treat =59), but increased the risk of major bleeding from 3.4 to 9.2 per cent (2.73, 1.91 to 3.91; number needed to harm=18).

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