Researchers from Konyang University Hospital have found a diagnostic method to predict the risk of death from acute pulmonary embolism by using the Delta Neutrophil Index (DNI).

Acute pulmonary embolism is a disease where arteries in the lungs are blocked by a substance that has been moved from elsewhere in the body and can lead to respiratory failure caused by heart attack and sudden death.

In the past, the prognosis for patients with acute pulmonary embolisms was made based on evaluating the condition of the whole body through the compilation of individual examinations. However, this type of examinations was often inaccurate, making it difficult to predict the possibility of death.

The newly developed diagnostic method using the DNI, a specific indicator of neutrophils in the blood, can be applied to critically ill patients as soon as the results are out, the researchers said. They analyzed 447 patients with acute pulmonary embolism from the emergency room from 2011 to 2017 using the DNI to analyze the possibility of death within 28 days after the disease.

Findings showed mortality for patients with DNI levels above 4 percent jumped 7.4 times. Out of the 447 patients who had a high DNI score, 46 patients died within 28 days.

With the new diagnostic method, doctors will be able to give the appropriate treatment immediately for acute pulmonary embolism patients who are at high risk of death, researchers said.

“The DNI examination helps not only pulmonary embolism patients but also patients with major diseases such as sepsis in predicting the possibility of mortality,” they said.

The researchers were led by Professor Lee Jong-wook from Konyang University Hospital and Professors You Je Sung and Kong Tae-yong from Gangnam Severance Hospital's department of Emergency Medical Care. This research paper was published in the renowned SCI journal Shock and selected as the Editor's Choice.