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Role of echocardiography in managing acute pulmonary embolism
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  • Published on: 13 November 2019
    A role for echocardiography when pulmonary embolism presents atypically

    Echocardiography has been shown to generate decisive diagnostic information when pulmonary embolism(PE) presents atypically with paradoxical cerebral embolism in the absence of concurrent PE-related stigmata such as dyspnoea, chest pain, or haemoptysis(1)(2), and also in those cases where the atypical presentation is one which simulates ST segment elevation myocardial infarction(STEMI) in the absence of paradoxical coronary artery embolism(3).
    The following are some anecdotal report which exemplify the diagnostic role of echocardiography:-
    A 32 year old man presented with a stroke , but no concurrent breathlessness or clinical signs of deep vein thrombosis(DVT). Transthoracic echocardiography(TTE) revealed intracardiac thrombus and also a thrombus in the main pulmonary artery. A subsequent Doppler examination revealed a DVT in the right lower limb(1).
    In another report, a 55 year old man presented with a stroke and no concurrent breathlessness. However, he had a blood pressure of 70/40 mm Hg and an elevated serum troponin of 0.07 ng/ml(normal < 0.03 ng/ml). TTE revealed a "positive bubble study" which was followed up with a transoesopahageal echocardiogram(TOE) which showed a patent foramen ovale(PFO). A subsequent Duplex study revealed right lower limb DVT.. His management included intracardiac surgery, which revealed biatrial thrombus straddling a patent foramen ovale. An extensive pulmonary thrombus was also discovered(...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.