Abstract: Pulmonary thromboembolism （PTE）, which is caused by detachment of venous thrombosis, is a common cause of sudden death in forensic practice. In the cases which die of PTE after trauma or die of PTE during non-thrombosis disease hospitalization, forensic pathologists are required to analyze the time sequence between trauma or medical practice and venous thrombosis, and then analyze their causal relationship. This review summarizes the history of thrombus age estimation and recent advances in forensic medicine, and then gives a brief outlook for future research to provide reference for forensic identification of PTE and guide follow-up studies.

Key words: forensic pathology, pulmonary thromboembolism, venous thrombosis, review