Treatment options for patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) and right ventricular shock (RVS) have grown exponentially. Therapy options include anticoagulation, systemic thrombolysis, catheter-based thrombolysis/ thrombectomy, and may include short-term mechanical circulatory support. However, the incidence of short-term morbidity and mortality has not changed despite the emergence of several advanced therapies in acute PE. This is possibly due to the inclusion of heterogenous populations in research studies without differentiation based on the acuity/severity of presentation. We propose a novel classification for PE-RVS to allow for standardizing appropriate therapy escalation and better communication of the severity among cardiovascular critical care, and emergency health care professionals.

OBJECTIVE: Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a leading cause of cardiovascular death and morbidity, and presents a major burden to healthcare systems. The field has seen rapid growth with development of innovative clot reduction technologies, as well as ongoing multicenter trials that may completely revolutionize care of PE patients. However, current paucity of robust clinical trials and guidelines often leave individual physicians managing patients with acute PE in a dilemma.
RESULTS: The pulmonary embolism response team (PERT) was developed as a platform to rapidly engage multiple specialists to deliver evidence-based, organized and efficient care and help address some of the gaps in knowledge. Several centers investigating outcomes following implementation of PERT have demonstrated shorter hospital and intensive-care unit stays, lower use of inferior vena cava filters, and in some instances improved mortality. Since the advent of PERT, early findings demonstrate promise with improved outcomes after implementation of PERT. Incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into PERT has also shown promise with more streamlined care and reducing response times. Further clinical trials are needed to examine the impact of PERT model on care delivery and clinical outcomes.

Background Therapeutic anticoagulation is the cornerstone of treatment for pulmonary embolism (PE), but the impact of different anticoagulation strategies on patient outcomes remains unclear. In this study, we assessed the association of different anticoagulation strategies with the outcomes of patients with acute PE. Methods A retrospective chart review of 207 patients with acute PE who were admitted to one of three urban teaching hospitals in the Mount Sinai Health System (in New York City) from January 2020 to September 2022 was performed. Demographic, clinical, and radiographic data were recorded for all patients. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to assess the association of different outcomes with the approach of therapeutic anticoagulation used. Results The median age of the included patients was 65 years, and 50.2% were women. The most common approach (n = 153, 73.9%) to therapeutic anticoagulation was initial treatment with unfractionated or low molecular weight heparin followed by a direct-acting oral anticoagulant (DOAC), while heparin alone (either unfractionated or low molecular weight heparin) was used in 37 (17.9%) patients, and another 17 (8.2%) patients were treated with heparin followed by bridging to warfarin. Hospital length of stay was longer for patients in the \"heparin to warfarin\" group (risk-adjusted incidence rate ratio of 2.52). The rates of in-hospital bleeding, all-cause 30-day mortality, and all-cause 30-day re-admissions did not have any significant association with the therapeutic anticoagulation approach used. Conclusion Patients with acute PE who were initially treated with heparin and subsequently bridged to warfarin had a longer hospital stay. Rates of in-hospital bleeding, 30-day mortality, and 30-day re-admission were not associated with the strategy of therapeutic anticoagulation employed.

UNASSIGNED: Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and albumin (ALB) were found to be significantly correlated with mortality in pulmonary embolism (PE) patients. However, data regarding the LDH/ALB ratio (LAR) in patients with acute PE are scanty. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between LAR and the risk of mortality in patients with acute PE.
UNASSIGNED: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on patients with acute PE represented in the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV (MIMIC-IV). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and calibration curve were used to assess the accuracy of the LAR for predicting mortality in patients with acute PE. We utilized Cox regression analysis to determine adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Survival curves were used to evaluate a connection between the LAR and prognosis in patients with acute PE.
UNASSIGNED: The study comprised 581 patients, and the 30-day all-cause mortality rate was 7.7%. We observed a higher LAR in the non-survival group compared to the surviving group (21.24 ± 21.22 vs. 8.99 ± 7.86, p < 0.0001). The Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with an elevated LAR had a significantly lower likelihood of surviving the 30-day mortality compared to those with a low LAR. Cox regression analysis showed that LAR (HR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.03-1.05) might have associations with 30-day mortality in patients with acute PE. This result was supported by sensitivity analyses. According to the results of the ROC curve analysis, the LAR\'s prediction of 30-day mortality in patients with acute PE yielded an area under the ROC curve of 0.73. A calibration curve showed LAR is well calibrated.
UNASSIGNED: Our research suggests LAR monitoring may be promising as a prognostic marker among patients with acute PE.

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is the third most common type of cardiovascular disease and carries a high mortality rate of 30% if left untreated. Although it is commonly known that individuals who suffer heart failure (HF) are more likely to experience a pulmonary embolism, little is known concerning the prognostic relationship between acute PE and HF. This study aims to evaluate the prognostic usefulness of heart failure and pro-BNP in pulmonary embolism cases. A scientific literature search, including PubMed, Medline, and Cochrane reviews, was used to assess and evaluate the most pertinent research that has been published. The findings showed that increased N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels could potentially identify pulmonary embolism patients with worse immediate prognoses and were highly predictive of all-cause death. Important prognostic information can be obtained from NT-proBNP and Heart-type Fatty Acid Binding Proteins (H-FABP) when examining individuals with PE. The heart, distal tubular cells of the renal system, and skeletal muscle are where H-FABP is primarily found, with myocardial cells having the highest concentration. Recent studies have indicated that these biomarkers may also help assess the severity of PE and its long-term risk.

Pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) functions are associated with the pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension (PH) which is a life-threatening complication of acute pulmonary embolism (APE). This study sought to explore the expression pattern of microRNA (miR)-221-3p in APE-PH patients and its role in PASMCs proliferation and migration. The clinical data and venous blood of APE-PH patients were collected. The expression levels of miR-221-3p and phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) in serum were determined, followed by receiver operator characteristic curve analysis of miR-221-3p diagnostic efficacy. PASMCs were transfected with miR-221-3p mimics and PTEN-overexpressed vector, followed by assessment of cell viability, proliferation, and migration through cell counting kit-8, 5-ethynyl-2\'-deoxyuridine, Transwell, and wound healing assays. The binding between miR-221-3p and PTEN 3\'UTR region was testified by the dual-luciferase assay. miR-221 was upregulated in the serum of APE-PH patients and presented with good diagnostic efficacy with 1.155 cutoff value, 66.25% sensitivity, and 67.50% specificity. miR-221 was negatively correlated with PTEN in APE-PH patients. miR-221 overexpression facilitated PASMCs proliferation and migration in vitro. miR-221-3p bound to PTEN 3\'UTR region to decrease PTEN protein levels. PTEN overexpression abolished the promotive role of miR-221-3p in PASMCs. Overall, miR-221-3p targeted PTEN to facilitate PASMC proliferation and migration.

BACKGROUND: Occurrence of chronic thromboembolic disease (CTED) after 3 or 6 months of standard and effective anticoagulation is not uncommon in patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). To date, there has been no scoring model for the prediction of CTED occurrence.
METHODS: A Prediction Rule for CTED (PRC) was established in the establishment cohort (n=1,124) and then validated in the validation cohort (n=211). Both original and simplified versions of the PRC score were provided by using different scoring and cut-offs.
RESULTS: The PRC score included 10 items: active cancer (3.641; 2.338-4.944; p<0.001), autoimmune diseases (2.218; 1.545-2.891; p=0.001), body mass index >30 kg/m2 (2.186; 1.573-2.799; p=0.001), chronic immobility (2.135; 1.741-2.529; p=0.001), D-dimer >2,000 ng/mL (1.618; 1.274-1.962; p=0.005), PE with deep vein thrombosis (3.199; 2.356-4.042; p<0.001), previous venous thromboembolism (VTE) history (5.268; 3.472-7.064; p<0.001), thromboembolism besides VTE (4.954; 3.150-6.758; p<0.001), thrombophilia (3.438; 2.573-4.303; p<0.001), and unprovoked VTE (2.227; 1.471-2.983; p=0.001). In the establishment cohort, the sensitivity, specificity, Youden index (YI), and C-index were 85.5%, 79.7%, 0.652, and 0.821 (0.732-0.909) when using the original PRC score, whereas they were 87.9%, 74.6%, 0.625, and 0.807 (0.718-0.897) when using the simplified one, respectively (Kappa coefficient 0.819, p-value of McNemar\'s test 0.786). In the validation cohort, the sensitivity, specificity, YI, and C-index were 86.3%, 76.3%, 0.626, and 0.815 (0.707-0.923) when using the original PRC score, whereas they were 85.0%, 78.6%, 0.636, and 0.818 (0.725-0.911) when using the simplified one, respectively (Kappa coefficient 0.912, p-value of McNemar\'s test 0.937); both were better than that of the DASH score (72.5%, 69.5%, 0.420, and 0.621 [0.532-0.710]).
CONCLUSIONS: A prediction score for CTED occurrence, termed PRC, predicted the likelihood of CTED occurrence after 3 or 6 months of standard anticoagulation in hospitalised patients with a diagnosis of acute PE.

BACKGROUND: Dynamic changes in the fQRS complex between the initial and follow-up ECG in patients with acute pulmonary embolism (APE) have rarely been studied.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the significance of dynamic changes in the fragmented QRS complex in APE patients.
METHODS: APE patients (n = 222) were divided into three groups based on their ECG data to determine whether there were dynamic changes in the fQRS complex from admission to follow-up at one month: the fQRS shallower group (n = 49), fQRS deeper group (n = 25) and fQRS unchanged group (n = 148). Each patient was observed and followed for 12 months.
RESULTS: Cox multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the dynamic deeper fQRS complex was an independent predictor of long-term mortality (HR: 5.563, 95 % CI: 1.079-28.678, P = 0.040) in patients with APE. Kaplan-Meier curve analysis revealed that the event-free survival of the fQRS shallower group significantly increased relative to that of the fQRS deeper group and that of the fQRS deeper group significantly decreased relative to that of the fQRS unchanged group and shallower group (P = 0.022, P = 0.041).
CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the deeper fQRS complex, the dynamic shallower fQRS complex was an indicator of a good prognosis in APE patients, while the dynamic deeper fQRS complex indicated a poor prognosis. Dynamical changes in fQRS may assist clinicians in risk stratification and individualized treatment for APE, as well as in predicting APE regression or progression.

BACKGROUND: Acute pulmonary embolism (APE) is a potentially life-threatening disorder, emphasizing the importance of accurate risk stratification and survival prognosis. The exploration of imaging biomarkers that can reflect patient survival holds the potential to further enhance the stratification of APE patients, enabling personalized treatment and early intervention. Therefore, in this study, we develop computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) radiomic signatures for the prognosis of 7- and 30-day all-cause mortality in patients with APE.
METHODS: Diagnostic CTPA images from 829 patients with APE were collected. Two hundred thirty-four features from each skeletal muscle (SM), intramuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) and both tissues combined (SM + IMAT) were calculated at the level of thoracic vertebra 12. Radiomic signatures were derived using 10 times repeated three-fold cross-validation on the training data for SM, IMAT and SM + IMAT for predicting 7- and 30-day mortality independently. The performance of the radiomic signatures was then evaluated on held-out test data and compared with the simplified pulmonary embolism severity index (sPESI) score, a well-established biomarker for risk stratification in APE. Predictive accuracy was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) with a 95% confidence interval (CI), sensitivity and specificity.
RESULTS: The radiomic signatures based on IMAT and a combination of SM and IMAT (SM + IMAT) achieved moderate performance for the prediction of 30-day mortality on test data (IMAT: AUC = 0.68, 95% CI [0.57-0.78], sensitivity = 0.57, specificity = 0.73; SM + IMAT: AUC = 0.70, 95% CI [0.60-0.79], sensitivity = 0.74, specificity = 0.54). Radiomic signatures developed for predicting 7-day all-cause mortality showed overall low performance. The clinical signature, that is, sPESI, achieved slightly better performance in terms of AUC on test data compared with the radiomic signatures for the prediction of both 7- and 30-day mortality on the test data (7 days: AUC = 0.73, 95% CI [0.67-0.79], sensitivity = 0.92, specificity = 0.16; 30 days: AUC = 0.74, 95% CI [0.66-0.82], sensitivity = 0.97, specificity = 0.16).
CONCLUSIONS: We developed and tested radiomic signatures for predicting 7- and 30-day all-cause mortality in APE using a multicentric retrospective dataset. The present multicentre work shows that radiomics parameters extracted from SM and IMAT can predict 30-day all-cause mortality in patients with APE.

When the electrocardiogram of acute pulmonary embolism is similar to that of acute myocardial infarction, it is difficult to distinguish between the two diseases quickly and effectively. We present the case of a 50-year-old man with acute pulmonary embolism. His electrocardiogram showed subtotal occlusion of the left main coronary artery with ST segment depression in I, II, aVF, V3 to V6, ST segment elevation in aVR, V1 and S1Q3T3. Invasive coronary angiography did not show coronary artery stenosis, then pulmonary angiography was performed quickly which showed massive bilateral acute pulmonary embolism. Electrocardiogram cannot effectively distinguish acute pulmonary embolism from subtotal occlusion of the left main coronary artery. For patients with hemodynamic instability, if ultrasound cannot be performed in time, the combination of invasive coronary angiography and pulmonary angiography can be an option to distinguish acute pulmonary embolism from subtotal occlusion of the left main coronary artery and to treat.