Echocardiography in Pulmonary Embolism and Secondary Pulmonary Hypertension

Abstract

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common problem with high morbidity and a 30-d mortality rate of 15–20%. Because of the scope and severity of the problem, the accurate diagnosis and management of acute PE is crucial. Echocardiography has increasing applications in the diagnosis, the risk assessment, and the management of PE. As a first-line tool, echocardiography allows for the preliminary differentiation of major lifethreatening cardiovascular complications. Additionally, bedside echocardiography affords the opportunity to establish a prompt diagnosis and to identify patients with high-risk features, thus identifying a subset of patients that may benefit from more aggressive therapy, such as thrombolytic therapy. The use of echocardiography in the evaluation and management of PE is increasingly common as demonstrated in two recent registries, in which approx 50–75% of patients with PE underwent echocardiography.