Clinical Profile, Immediate- and Short-term Outcome of Patients with Intermediate-risk Acute Pulmonary Thromboembolism

BACKGROUND: Long-term outcomes of acute pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) have been reported. However, the immediate- and short-term outcomes have not been reported adequately. OBJECTIVES: Primary objective was to determine the patient characteristics, and immediate- and short-term outcomes of intermediate-risk PTE, and the secondary objective was to evaluate the benefit of thrombolysis in normotensive PTE patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study included patients diagnosed with acute intermediate PTE. Patient's electrocardiography (ECG) parameters along with echocardiography (echo), etc., conducted at the time of admission, during their stay in hospital, at the time of discharge, and during follow-up were recorded. The patients were treated using thrombolysis or anticoagulants depending on hemodynamic decompensation. During follow-up, they were reassessed for echo parameters–right ventricular (RV) function and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). RESULTS: Among 55 patients, 29 (52.73%) were diagnosed with intermediate high-risk PTE and 26 (47.27%) with intermediate low-risk PTE. They were normotensive and most of them had a simplified pulmonary embolism severity index (sPESI) score <2. Typical ECG pattern S1Q3T3 along with echo patterns and elevated cardiac troponin levels were observed in most of the patients. Patients treated with thrombolytic agents showed a reduction in hemodynamic decompensation as opposed to patients treated with anticoagulants who had clinical signs of right heart failure (RHF) on follow-up after 3 months. CONCLUSION: This study contributes to the existing literature on outcomes of intermediate-risk PTE and the effect of thrombolysis on patients with hemodynamic stability. Thrombolysis reduced the incidence and progression of RHF in patients with hemodynamic instability. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Mathiyalagan P, Rajangam T, Bhargavi K, Gnanaraj R, Sundaram S. Clinical Profile, Immediate- and Short-term Outcome of Patients with Intermediate-risk Acute Pulmonary Thromboembolism. Indian J Crit Care Med 2022;26(11):1192–1197.