Project description:ObjectiveCatheter-based intervention (CBI) has become an increasingly popular option for treating pulmonary embolism (PE); however, the real benefits are unknown. The purpose of the present study was to compare the outcomes of patients treated with CBI with the outcomes of those treated with medical or surgical approaches.MethodsWe performed a retrospective analysis of patients admitted from October 2015 to December 2017 with a diagnosis of acute PE. We compared patients aged ≥18 years with a diagnosis of acute PE treated with CBI against a control group identified by propensity score matching. The control group was divided into those who had undergone surgical pulmonary embolectomy (SPE) as the surgical group and those who had not undergone SPE as the medical group. The primary outcome was mortality (in-hospital and overall mortality). The secondary outcomes were major bleeding, length of hospital stay, thrombus resolution, right ventricle improvement in systolic function and dilatation, and recurrent PE.ResultsOf the 108 patients, 30 were in the CBI group and 78 were in the control group (62 in the medical group and 16 in the surgical group). The patient characteristics on admission were similar, except for the body mass index, which was greater in the CBI group (P = .03). No difference was found in clinical severity, clot burden, right ventricle function, or biomarkers. Recurrent PE was less frequent in the CBI group than in the medical group (0% vs 6.4%). Otherwise, no significant differences were found in the outcomes between the CBI and medical groups. When CBI was compared with the surgical group, SPE was associated with improved mortality (0% vs 16.6%) but a longer median length of hospital stay (median, 7 days; interquartile range, 3-12 days; vs median, 8 days; interquartile range, 6.5-17 days).ConclusionsThe use of CBI reduced the number of recurrent PE events compared with the medically treated patients; however, the mortality was higher than that in the surgical group.
Project description:Variation in the use of ICUs for low-risk conditions contributes to health system inefficiency. We sought to examine the relationship between ICU use for patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) and cost, mortality, readmission, and procedure use.We performed a retrospective cohort study including 61,249 adults with PE discharged from 263 hospitals in three states between 2007 and 2010. We generated hospital-specific ICU admission rate quartiles and used a series of multilevel models to evaluate relationships between admission rates and risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality, readmission, and costs and between ICU admission rates and several critical care procedures.Hospital quartiles varied in unadjusted ICU admission rates for PE (range, ≤ 15% to > 31%). Among all patients, there was a small trend toward increased use of arterial catheterization (0.6%-1.1%, P < .01) in hospital quartiles with higher levels of ICU admission. However, use of invasive mechanical ventilation (14.4%-7.9%, P < .01), noninvasive ventilation (6.6%-3.0%, P < .01), central venous catheterization (14.6%-11.3%, P < .02), and thrombolytics (11.0%-4.7%, P < .01) in patients in the ICU declined across hospital quartiles. There was no relationship between ICU admission rate and risk-adjusted hospital mortality, costs, or readmission.Hospitals vary widely in ICU admission rates for acute PE without a detectable impact on mortality, cost, or readmission. Patients admitted to ICUs in higher-using hospitals received many critical care procedures less often, suggesting that these patients may have had weaker indications for ICU admission. Hospitals with greater ICU admission may be appropriate targets for improving efficiency in ICU admissions.
Project description:Pulmonary embolism (PE) contributes substantially to the global disease burden. A key determinant of early adverse outcomes is the presence (and severity) of right ventricular dysfunction. Consequently, risk-adapted management strategies continue to evolve, tailoring acute treatment to the patients' clinical presentation, hemodynamic status, imaging and biochemical markers, and comorbidity. For subjects with hemodynamic instability or 'high-risk' PE, immediate systemic reperfusion treatment with intravenous thrombolysis is indicated; emerging approaches such as catheter-directed pharmacomechanical reperfusion might help to minimize the bleeding risk. Currently, direct, non-vitamin K-dependent oral anticoagulants are the mainstay of treatment for acute PE. They have been shown to simplify initial and extended anticoagulation regimens while reducing the bleeding risk compared to vitamin K antagonists. (This is a review article based on the invited lecture of the 37th Annual Meeting of Japanese Society of Phlebology.).
Project description:BackgroundAcute pulmonary embolism (APE) is the third most common cause of vascular death. Data on APE from India and other low-and middle-income countries is sparse.ObjectivesStudy the clinical characteristics, prognostic factors, in-hospital mortality (IMH) and 12 months mortality of patients with APE in India.MethodsWe prospectively enrolled 186 consecutive patients diagnosed with APE between November 2016 and November 2021 in Madras Medical College Pulmonary Embolism Registry (M-PER). All patients had electrocardiography and echocardiography. High risk patients and selected intermediate risk patients underwent fibrinolysis.Results75 % of our patients were below 50 years of age. 35 % were women. The mean time to presentation from symptom onset was 6.04 ± 10.01 days. 92 % had CT pulmonary angiography. Intermediate risk category (61.3 %) was the more common presentation followed by high risk (26.9 %). Electrocardiography showed S1Q3T3 pattern in 56 %. 76 % had right ventricular dysfunction and 12.4 % had right heart thrombi(RHT) by echocardiography. 50.5 % received fibrinolysis. Patients with RHT received fibrinolysis more frequently (78.3 % vs 46.6 %; p = 0.007). In-hospital mortality (IHM) was 15.6 %. Systemic arterial desaturation and need for mechanical ventilation independently predicted IHM. Ten patients (5.3 %) were lost to follow up. One year mortality was 26.7 % (47/176). One year mortality of patients discharged alive was similar among high, intermediate and low risk groups(14.8 % vs 1.9 % vs 10.5 %; p = 0.891).ConclusionsPatients with PE are often young and present late in India. The in-hospital and 12 months mortality were high. Low and intermediate risk groups had a high post discharge mortality similar to high risk patients.
Project description:IntroductionMassive pulmonary embolus (PE) is associated with a high mortality if not treated aggressively. Treatment classically includes thrombolysis, catheter embolectomy, or open surgical embolectomy. This is the case report of a 38-year-old female presenting with massive PE three weeks status post gastric sleeve resection.Presentation of case38-year-old female status post gastric sleeve resection presented to the emergency department with acute onset shortness of breath and dizziness. Computed Tomography (CT) chest angiography showed extensive PE with pulmonary artery saddle embolus, and an enlarged right ventricle suggesting strain. Her treatment consisted of anticoagulation, AngioVac suction embolectomy, EKOS catheter thrombolysis, fragmentation with catheter, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), and lastly surgical embolectomy due to refractory clinical course.DiscussionThis case report details the natural history of a complex massive pulmonary embolism presentation requiring multiple catheter-based measures, ECMO initiation, and subsequent surgical embolectomy.ConclusionThis case report should serve as encouragement for early adoption of surgical therapy in pulmonary embolism cases where patients present with a complex presentation.
Project description:Time and dose related expression profiles of rat right heart tissue in microsphere bead model for Pulmonary embolism Keywords: Time course and dose response in experimental PE
Project description:BackgroundGuidelines on the management of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) recommend consideration of endovascular therapies (EVT) for patients at intermediate-high risk. However, long-term data on the outcomes of patients after EVT as compared to medical therapy is lacking. This study aimed to compare outcomes of patients receiving EVT as compared to medical therapy alone at 3 to 6 months.MethodsIn this single-center, retrospective cohort study, 190 patients with PE underwent evaluation for presence of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction by transthoracic echocardiogram, residual perfusion defects on ventilation-perfusion scanning, and functional capacity by 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) at 3 to 6 month follow-up.ResultsFifty-eight (31%) patients received EVT for the management of their acute PE. At follow-up (median 120 [97-170] days), 71% of patients who received EVT had normalization of RV function compared with only 34% of patients who received medical therapy alone (P < .001). Patients who received EVT had a significantly greater increase in their estimated glomerular filtration rate (P = .001), decrease in N-terminal proB-type natriuretic peptide (P = .003), and decrease in hemoglobin values (P = .018). Patients with intermediate-high to high risk PE who received EVT had significantly greater distance achieved on their 6MWD as compared to those who received medical therapy alone (P = .025).ConclusionsPatients with acute PE who received EVT plus medical therapy were more likely to achieve normalization of RV dysfunction at 3 to 6 month follow-up compared to patients who received medical therapy alone. These data suggest that EVT is an effective therapy option for acute PE in intermediate-high and high risk patients with potential durable long-term benefits.
Project description:BackgroundCatheter-directed thrombolysis (CDL) is increasingly being used for the treatment of submassive and massive pulmonary embolism. Although this therapy has been shown to be effective at reducing right ventricle strain, the impact on clinical outcomes remains unclear. We therefore aimed to evaluate the outcomes of CDL compared to standard anticoagulation for submassive pulmonary embolism patients in a large cohort.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective observational study of consecutive patients with a primary diagnosis of submassive pulmonary embolism admitted to an intensive care unit within our health system between June 2014 and April 2016. We compared the outcome of patients treated with systemic anticoagulation (medical therapy) vs. catheter-based delivery of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) (CDL). CDL patients were matched with medical therapy controls using a propensity-score matching algorithm based on the components of the simplified pulmonary embolism severity index (sPESI) score.ResultsUnadjusted mortality rates were 3.0% for CDL vs. 10.4% for medical therapy at 30 days and 8.1% for CDL vs. 22.9% for medical therapy at 1 year. In the propensity-score matched cohort, mortality rates were 3.1% for CDL vs. 6.1% for medical therapy at 30 days and 8.2% for CDL vs. 18.2% for medical therapy at 1 year. Length of stay was significantly shorter in the CDL group. The index admission bleeding and transfusion rates were not increased in the CDL group.ConclusionsIn patients presenting with acute submassive pulmonary embolism who are admitted to an intensive care unit, the group treated with CDL experienced reduced mortality at 30 days and 1 year when compared to medical therapy without increase in bleeding. Further randomized studies are required to confirm these findings.
Project description:BackgroundTo investigate whether 2 cardiac troponins [conventional troponin-T(cTnT) and high sensitive troponin-T(hsTnT)] combined with simplified pulmonary embolism severity index (sPESI), or either test alone are useful for predicting 30-day mortality and 6 months adverse outcomes in patients with normotensive pulmonary embolism(PE).MethodsThe prospective study included 121 consecutive patients with normotensive PE confirmed by computerized tomographic(CT) pulmonary angiography. The primary end point of the study was the 30-day all-cause mortality. The secondary end point included the 180-day all-cause mortality, the nonfatal symptomatic recurrent PE, or the nonfatal major bleeding.ResultsOverall, 16 (13.2%) out of 121 patients died during the first month of follow up. The predefined hsTnT cutoff value of 0.014 ng/mL combined with a sPESI ≥1 'point(s) were the most significant predictor for 30-day mortality [OR: 27.6 (95% CI: 3.5-217) in the univariate analysis. Alone, sPESI ≥1 point(s) had the highest negative predictive value for both 30-day all-cause mortality and 6-months adverse outcomes,100% and 91% respectively.ConclusionsThe hsTnT assay combined with the sPESI may provide better predictive information than the cTnT assay for early death of PE patients. Low sPESI (0 points) may be used for identifying the outpatient treatment for PE patients and biomarker levels seem to be unnecessary for risk stratification in these patients.
Project description:Pulmonary embolism represents the third most common cause of cardiovascular death in the United States. Reperfusion therapeutic strategies such as systemic thrombolysis, catheter directed therapies, surgical pulmonary embolectomy, and cardiopulmonary support devices are currently available for patients with high- and intermediate-high-risk pulmonary embolism. However, deciding on optimal therapy may be challenging. Pulmonary embolism response teams have been designed to facilitate multidisciplinary decision-making with the goal to improve quality of care for complex cases with pulmonary embolism. Herein, we discuss the current role and strategies on how to leverage the strengths from pulmonary embolism response teams, its possible worldwide adoption, and implementation to improve survival and change the paradigm in the care of a potentially deadly disease.