What we have learned from the Regional Pulmonary Embolism Registry (REPER)?

Introduction. The management of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is still full of controversies, and the number of randomized trials in this field is relatively small. For the individual doctor and the health system who deal with acute pulmonary embolism it is very important to analyze the number of treated patients, hospital and out of hospital mortality and morbidity, how the patients' treated, what are the most important obstacles for the management of the disease. Methods. Here, we present the Regional PE registry (REPER), in brief its development, purposes and the scientific results published in the journals on the scientific citation list, doctor thesis and studies accepted and presented at the European Society of Cardiology annual Congress. This is academic initiated, non-interventional research and the patients are informed and gave their permission to be part of the registry. However, no public patient's personal data was used. The basic criterion for the enrollment is objectively proven (positive CT-pulmonary angiography) acute PE. Results. The REPER was found as the single center PE registry at 2011 which enrolled patients hospitalized for the acute PE in the clinic of Internal Emergency Medicine of Military Medical Academy. As we realized that one institution could not have enough patients with acute PE to create the valid registry, we started to join other institutions under the principles of transparency and equality, and the first two were Institute for Pulmonary Diseases Vojvodina and Clinical Center Nis, which enrolled high number of patients from 2015. The registry became an international when the Clinical Center of Banja Luka joined as, followed by Clinical Center of Podgorica and Skopje. Till now, 1776 patients with acute PE are enrolled in the data base with more than 300 variables. During the last 5 years, 15 original scientific articles were published with the cumulative impact factor of 39.2, 5 doctor thesis were defended, and 5 scientific researches were presented at the ESC meeting. Conclusion. For the clinician scientist it is crucial to develop qualitative data-base with as many as possible variables which are important for the understanding pathophysiology, diagnostic process and therapy management of the disease in focus. For that it is vital to cooperate with other doctors and institutions. We think that this registry full-filled their purpose, and thanks for these data our knowledge about PE is much deeper and we become better doctors.