The first state of the art session of the 28th annual BSTH meeting focussed on venous thromboembolism and was moderated by Alain Gadisseur and Kristel Vandenbosch. Prof. P-YLeRoux (physician in the department of Nuclear Medicine at the Brest University Hospital, France, and senior scientist in the Thrombosis Study group of Western Brittany) opened this session with a talk on the diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism. Following up on this presentation, prof. dr. S. Konstantinides (Professor for Clinical Trials and Medical director of the multidisciplinary centre for thrombosis and haemostasis (CTH) at the University of Mainz, Germany and professor of Cardiology at the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece), turned the attention to the clinical management of pulmonary embolism.