Risk Stratification in Acute Normotensive Pulmonary Embolism– Role of Echocardiography Imaging and Biomarkers

Abstract

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is an important cause of mortality. It requires alertness to facilitate early diagnosis which becomes a benchmark for further risk stratification and optimal management. Although pulmonary artery imaging by computed tomography scan has become the gold standard in diagnosis of acute PE, echocardiography also plays a complementary role as an imaging modality in deciding about the treatment and for prognostication. Combining echocardiography with cardiac-specific biomarker assays further enhances the required diagnostic yield in the emergency setting. In this chapter, we mainly focus on the role of echocardiography along with specific biomarker assays in prognostication of acute PE patients who are normotensive at presentation.