#june2020mccqe1
A 38-year-old man is admitted to the hospital after sustaining a pulmonary embolism. The patient has a past medical history significant for two idiopathic deep venous thromboses and takes only an aspirin daily. Three hours ago, he developed acute shortness of breath, pleuritic chest pain, and palpitations. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital. In the emergency department, he was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolus on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms and a ventilation-perfusion scan. He was started on IV unfractionated heparin at that time. Which of the following laboratory tests would be most appropriate to guide therapy with this drug?
(A) Bleeding time
(B) Factor Xa levels
(C) Platelet count
(D) Prothrombin time (PT)
(E) Partial thromboplastin time (PTT)
A 38-year-old man is admitted to the hospital after sustaining a pulmonary embolism. The patient has a past medical history significant for two idiopathic deep venous thromboses and takes only an aspirin daily. Three hours ago, he developed acute shortness of breath, pleuritic chest pain, and palpitations. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital. In the emergency department, he was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolus on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms and a ventilation-perfusion scan. He was started on IV unfractionated heparin at that time. Which of the following laboratory tests would be most appropriate to guide therapy with this drug?
(A) Bleeding time
(B) Factor Xa levels
(C) Platelet count
(D) Prothrombin time (PT)
(E) Partial thromboplastin time (PTT)
