COPD - What Are the Most Important Initial Indications Early On?

Cyrus: I don't think you can get a great cardiac exam in a noisy emergency department. If she has wheezing, it may suggest that she has a component of asthma in addition to COPD. The labs that I would want would be a full basic metabolic panel so that I can get an ion gap and an ABG. Cyrus: Can I say one more thing about the role of a D-dimer in this setting? Because I would be inclined just to get a CT angiogram on her in the emergency department but there is some data to suggest that D-diner's are elevated in patients with having acute COPD exacerbations without evidence of pulmonary embol