Echocardiographic findings in patients with proved pulmonary embolism

Abstract

Echocardiographic studies were performed in 105 patients with acute and recurrent pulmonary emboli. Pulmonary embolism was confirmed by pulmonary angiography (n=48), autopsy (n=6), and lung perfusion scintigraphy (n=51). Seventy of 93 patients (75%) displayed a dilated right ventricle, 38 of 91 patients (42%) had reduced left ventricular cavity dimension, 41 of 82 patients (50%) had a decreased EF slope of the mitral valve, and 78 of 101 patients (77%) showed dilatation of the right pulmonary artery. The motion of the interventricular septum was abnormal in 41 of 93 patients (44%). Right-sided thrombi were seen in 13 patients within the right pulmonary artery (n=11) and in the right ventricle (n=3); in one patient they were found in the superior vena cava, in the innominate vein, and the right atrium. Two patients suffered from right-sided endocarditis. Thus echocardiographic changes were frequently found in patients with proved pulmonary emboli. The echocardiographic findings of right-sided cardiac and pulmonary artery abnormalities indicate hemodynamically active pulmonary emboli.