Prognostic Value of Transthoracic Echocardiography in Hemodynamically Stable Patients With Acute Symptomatic Pulmonary Embolism

Abstract

To determine the prognostic value of transthoracic echocardiography in hemodynamically stable patients diagnosed with acute symptomatic pulmonary embolism. Hemodynamically stable outpatients diagnosed with acute symptomatic pulmonary embolism at a tertiary university hospital were prospectively included in the study. All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography within 48 hours of diagnosis. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality at 1 month. Right ventricular dysfunction was documented by echocardiography in 86 of the 214 patients (40%) in our series. In the first month of follow-up, 7 patients died--4 with positive echocardiographic findings and 3 with negative findings (odds ratio, 2.0; 95% confidence interval, 0.4-9.3; P=.41). For the primary endpoint, the negative predictive value of transthoracic echocardiography was 98%, the positive predictive value was 5%, and the negative likelihood ratio was 0.7. The negative predictive value was 100% and the positive predictive value was 3% when we analyzed death due to pulmonary embolism only. In our setting, transthoracic echocardiography is not useful for prognostic stratification of hemodynamically stable patients with pulmonary embolism.