Key result
Review outlines diagnostic tools, risk factors, and prognostic impact of pulmonary infarction in PE.
Why the study?
The real incidence of pulmonary infarction in pulmonary embolism patients is likely underestimated and diagnosis can be challenging due to symptom overlap with other diseases.
What are the prevalence, predisposing factors, diagnostic tools, and clinical implications of pulmonary infarction in patients with pulmonary embolism?
What are the prevalence, predisposing factors, diagnostic tools, and clinical implications of pulmonary infarction in patients with pulmonary embolism?
This review highlights the importance of a proper diagnostic protocol, including multimodality imaging, for identifying pulmonary infarction in patients with pulmonary embolism.
May guide multimodality imaging in PE evaluation; leaves open prospective validation of diagnostic protocols.
Pulmonary infarction (PI) is a possible consequence of pulmonary embolism (PE). The real incidence of PI could be underestimated considering only non-fatal PE presentation. However, following postmortem examination, the prevalence of PI is considerably higher. This evidence suggests the necessity of proper diagnostic protocol for identifying PI. Unfortunately, PI diagnosis can sometimes be challenging, due to the overlapping of symptoms with other diseases. Nowadays, the diagnosis is mainly based on radiological evaluation, although the combination with emerging imaging techniques such as ultrasound and nuclear scanning might improve the diagnostic algorithm for PI. This review aims to summarize the available data on the prevalence of PI, the main predisposing factors for the development of PI among patients with PE, to resume the possible diagnostic tools, and finally the clinical and prognostic implications.
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Gagno et al. (2022) conducted a review in Pulmonary Embolism and Pulmonary Infarction. This review summarizes available data on the prevalence, predisposing factors, diagnostic tools, and clinical implications of pulmonary infarction in patients with pulmonary embolism.
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