Introduction: Traditionally, patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) are treated in-hospital until they reach an adequate international normalized ratio (INR). Analogous to patients with a deep venous thrombosis, therapy with low-molecular-weight heparin facilitates out of hospital treatment of PE. We retrospectively analysed the current practice of early anticoagulant therapy in 86 acute PE patients with emphasis on the occurrence and safety of outpatient treatment.