The cause of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is often difficult to determine. Pulmonary embolism may be a trigger of acute dyspnoea in patients with COPD.
Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals, 24 rue Micheli-du-Crest, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland. olivier.rutschmann@hcuge.ch