Pulmonary Embolism

Pulmonary embolism is a sudden blockage in a lung artery. Blockage usually is caused by a blood clot that travels to the lung from a vein in the leg. Because pulmonary embolism almost always occurs in conjunction with deep vein thrombosis, most doctors refer to the two conditions together as venous thromboembolism. Pulmonary embolism can be life-threatening, but prompt treatment can greatly reduce the risk of death.  This incidence is much higher than that observed in general population studies for the same age group.

Statistical analysis on pulmonary edema in Spain got the result as of the 15 cases detected, the majority were men (66.7%), mean ages being 28.8 years among males and 20.4 years among females. We focused on a total of 6 cases which were detected among National Basketball Association (NBA) and Asociación de Clubes de Baloncesto (ACB) basketball players, resulting in average incidence of 1.27 and 2.06 cases per 1000 players per year in the NBA and ACB respectively.