This review highlights the importance of prompt anticoagulation and advanced reperfusion therapies, guided by multidisciplinary response teams, for managing intermediate- and high-risk pulmonary embolism.
Intermediate-risk (submassive) pulmonary embolism (PE) describes normotensive patients with evidence of right ventricular compromise, whereas high-risk (massive) PE comprises those who have experienced hemodynamic decompensation with hypotension, cardiogenic shock, or cardiac arrest. Together, these 2 syndromes represent the most clinically challenging manifestations of the PE spectrum. Prompt therapeutic anticoagulation remains the cornerstone of therapy for both intermediate- and high-risk PE. Patients with intermediate-risk PE who subsequently deteriorate despite anticoagulation and those with high-risk PE require additional advanced therapies, typically focused on pulmonary artery reperfusion. Strategies for reperfusion therapy include systemic fibrinolysis, surgical pulmonary embolectomy, and a growing number of options for catheter-based therapy. Multidisciplinary PE response teams can aid in selection of appropriate management strategies, especially where gaps in evidence exist and guideline recommendations are sparse.
Gregory Piazza (Mon,) studied this question.