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Query: UMLS:C0034065 (pulmonary embolism)
 14,979 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Chronic dyspnea is defined as dyspnea lasting more than one month. In approximately two thirds of patients presenting with dyspnea, the underlying cause is cardiopulmonary disease. Establishing an accurate diagnosis is essential because treatment differs depending on the underlying condition. Asthma, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, cardiac ischemia, interstitial lung disease, and psychogenic causes account for 85 percent of patients with this principal symptom. The history and physical examination should guide selection of initial diagnostic tests such as electrocardiogram, chest radiograph, pulse oximetry, spirometry, complete blood count, and metabolic panel. If these are inconclusive, additional testing is indicated. Formal pulmonary function testing may be needed to establish a diagnosis of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or interstitial lung disease. High-resolution computed tomography is particularly useful for diagnosing interstitial lung disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, bronchiectasis, or pulmonary embolism. Echocardiography and brain natriuretic peptide levels help establish a diagnosis of congestive heart failure. If the diagnosis remains unclear, additional tests may be required. These include ventilation perfusion scans, Holter monitoring, cardiac catheterization, esophageal pH monitoring, lung biopsy, and cardiopulmonary exercise testing.
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PMID:Evaluation of chronic dyspnea. 1586 93

The etiology of dyspnea can often be difficult to rapidly and accurately determine and can delay timely and appropriate therapies. The current literature reveals important diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic implications of several currently used biomarkers: sensitive d -dimer, myoglobin, creatine kinase-MB, cardiac troponins, and b-type natriuretic peptide. These biomarkers were found to have a high sensitivity and negative predictive value for rapidly ruling out potential serious etiologies of dyspnea, namely, pulmonary embolism (PE), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and congestive heart failure (CHF). In the setting of a low to moderate pretest probability of PE, a negative sensitive d -dimer can rule out a PE with 97% accuracy. After 10 hours from the onset of symptoms, normal levels of myoglobin, creatine kinase-MB, and cardiac troponin I can rule out an AMI with greater than 96% accuracy. A b-type natriuretic peptide level less than 80 pg/mL can confidently rule out decompensated CHF with greater than 99% accuracy. However, no literature was found analyzing the use of these biomarkers in combination. A dyspnea biomarker panel could rapidly and accurately assist a clinician to rule out PE, AMI, and CHF. If a PE, AMI, or CHF is determined to be the cause of dyspnea, a biomarker panel could help risk stratify and help determine initial therapies. Subsequent clinical research is needed to corroborate this postulation.
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PMID:Evaluation and management of the acutely dyspneic patient: the role of biomarkers. 1591 17

The debate about thrombolysis in acute pulmonary embolism (PE) as an adjunctive therapy to heparin is ongoing for about 35 years. Thrombolysis dissolves thromboemboli faster than heparin in combination with spontaneous lysis. So, thrombolysis achieves a faster normalization of the pulmonary artery pressure. Thrombolysis may be life-saving in patients with cardiogenic shock and in patients with hemodynamic instability due to massive PE. It is still on discussion whether patients with right heart strain who are hemodynamically stable should be treated with thrombolysis. Inconsistent definitions of right heart strain may be responsible for the lack of evidence for reducing mortality by thrombolysis. The authors' right heart score (R-S(Wacker)) enables physicians to describe the right heart strain in patients with PE quantitatively. The R-S(Wacker) is of prognostic value with regard to in-hospital mortality and 6-month mortality. Patients with a normal to moderately elevated R-S(Wacker) have an excellent outcome (0% in-hospital mortality) and do not profit from thrombolysis. In patients with relevant right heart strain thrombolysis may be discussed, especially in combination with an elevation of the biomarkers troponin I or T and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP). Patients with intracardiac thromboemboli, especially in the presence of a patent foramen ovale, should receive thrombolysis, in selected cases surgery should be done. Therapy and therapy escalation are highly dependent on the time interval after diagnosis of PE: patients who survive the first 24 h and who are on heparin in therapeutic dosage without any interruption have a good prognosis. Therefore, therapy escalation after 24 h or even later should be an exception.
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PMID:[Thrombolytic therapy in acute pulmonary embolism]. 1596 1

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common disorder requiring prompt anticoagulant treatment. As spiral CT has become the first-line test for PE diagnosis, physicians will likely be increasingly confronted with patients displaying large centrally located pulmonary emboli. Evidence from literature supporting the use ofthrombolytic drugs in patients with PE is sparse, since only one small trial has demonstrated that these drugs can reduce short-term mortality in patients with emboli and shock. Patients with PE can present without massive arterial hypotension but with signs of right ventricular dysfunction on echocardiography or CT. One recent randomised trial evaluated whether these haemodynamically stable patients would benefit from thrombolytic therapy. However, no definitive conclusions can be drawn from this study. Potentially, other prognostic markers including brain type natriuretic peptide may be better predictors of suitable candidates for thrombolytic therapy. It is concluded that based on current knowledge, patients with PE who presentwithout arterial hypotension should not routinely be treated with thrombolytic drugs, irrespective of whether they display central emboli on CT or not.
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PMID:[Patients with lung emboli and hemodynamic stability: insufficient evidence for routine thrombolysis]. 1599 93

Echocardiography and biomarkers: what should be their place in the algorithms designed for pulmonary embolism (PE)? Our opinions on that continue to evolve. This manuscript attempts a snapshot reflecting the position of cardiac imaging and cardiac biomarkers in suspected and confirmed PE. Comparing the prognostic performance of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and troponins, it seems that with thresholds set appropriately high, troponins could be more helpful in the identification of patients with adverse prognosis while low BNP levels are reliable markers of good prognosis. Because of the relatively short plasma half-life, BNP as well as NT-proBNP could be repeated to monitor evolution of the hemodynamic status of the patient and the results of implemented treatment. The role of echocardiography outside massive PE seems to be decreasing, although if considered together with information provided on potential alternative or additional cardiovascular diseases as well as intracardiac or intravascular thrombi, its place in a tentative management algorithm in PE seems still secured.
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PMID:Pulmonary embolism: role of echocardiography and of biological markers. 1627 Apr 71

Chest pain presents a diagnostic challenge in outpatient family medicine. Noncardiac causes are common, but it is important not to overlook serious conditions such as an acute coronary syndrome, pulmonary embolism, or pneumonia. In addition to a thorough history and physical examination, most patients should have a chest radiograph and an electrocardiogram. Patients with chest pain that is predictably exertional, with electrocardiogram abnormalities, or with cardiac risk factors should be evaluated further with measurement of troponin levels and cardiac stress testing. Risk of pulmonary embolism can be determined with a simple prediction rule, and a D-dimer assay can help determine whether further evaluation with helical computed tomography or venous ultrasound is needed. Fever, egophony, and dullness to percussion suggest pneumonia, which can be confirmed with chest radiograph. Although some patients with chest pain have heart failure, this is unlikely in the absence of dyspnea; a brain natriuretic peptide level measurement can clarify the diagnosis. Pain reproducible by palpation is more likely to be musculoskeletal than ischemic. Chest pain also may be associated with panic disorder, for which patients can be screened with a two-item questionnaire. Clinical prediction rules can help clarify many of these diagnoses.
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PMID:Diagnosing the cause of chest pain. 1634 31

We investigated the efficacy and safety of extended enoxaparin monotherapy in symptomatic patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). We randomized 40 patients in a 1:1 allocation to enoxaparin monotherapy (1 mg/kg twice daily for 10-18 days, and then 1.5mg/kg once daily until day 90) (n = 20) or to enoxaparin 1.0 mg/kg twice daily as a bridge to warfarin with a target international normalized ratio of 2.0-3.0 for 90 days (at least 10 doses of enoxaparin overlapping with warfarin for at least 4 days) (n = 20). All patients underwent echocardiography, cardiac troponin I (TnI), and brain natriuretic peptide testing to identify patients with an increased likelihood of adverse clinical outcomes. The end-points were newly diagnosed deep venous thrombosis (DVT) or PE and bleeding events through day 90. In 15 patients on extended enoxaparin therapy, we used repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) to investigate differences in anti-Xa levels obtained at 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks. The patients' mean age was 52 +/- 17 years; the most common comorbidities were obesity (58%), hypertension (30%), concomitant DVT (30%) and cancer (15%). Twelve (30%) patients had elevated cardiac Tnl >0.1 mg/l and 11 (28%) had moderate or severe right ventricular dysfunction on echocardiography. Ten (25%) patients received thrombolysis with a continuous infusion of 100 mg alteplase prior to randomization. During a 90-day follow-up, one patient from the enoxaparin monotherapy group suffered symptomatic distal DVT; one from the warfarin group had recurrent symptomatic PE (p = 1.0). None of the study patients had major hemorrhage; two warfarin group patients had minor bleeding compared with none in the enoxaparin monotherapy group (p = 0.49). Repeated measure ANOVA did not reveal significant differences in anti-Xa levels over time (p = 0.217). In patients with acute symptomatic PE, extended enoxaparin monotherapy is feasible and warrants further investigation in a large clinical trial.
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PMID:Extended enoxaparin monotherapy for acute symptomatic pulmonary embolism. 1644 53

Type B natriuretic peptide (BNP) versus n-terminal type B natriuretic propeptide in the diagnosis of cardiac failure in the elderly over 75 population The value of BNP is well established in the diagnosis of cardiac failure in cases of dyspnoea in the emergency room in young and, more and more, in elderly subjects. However, there are few studies comparing the diagnostic value of BNP and of the n-terminal pro-BNP in patients over 75 years of age. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic value of BNP and NT-pro BNP in dyspnoea of the elderly patient. One hundred and three consecutive patients over 75 years of age admitted to the emergency unit for dyspnoea were included. A blood sample for measuring the BNP (Biosite) and the NT-proBNP (Roche Diagnostic) was taken in the admission unit in addition to the standard blood workup. The final reference diagnosis was established by two independent cardiologists. Of the 103 patients, 61 were women and the average age was 84.9 +/- 6.2 years. The final diagnosis was cardiac failure in 49 patients (48%), pulmonary embolism in 6 patients, an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive airways disease in 36 patients and an acute bronchitis in 30 patients. In 9 cases, the dyspnoea was considered to result from mixed cardiac and pulmonary disease. Renal function was assessed by calculating the creatinine clearance by Cockcroft and Gault's formula. The average value of the creatinine clearance was 41.7 +/- 16.4 ml/min indicating that mild renal failure was relatively common. The diagnostic value, assessed by the area under the ROC curve, was similar for the BNP (0.79; CI: 0.70-0.88) and NT-proBNP (0.80; CI: 0.71-0.89). A BNP value of 300 pg/ml had the same sensitivity and specificity as an NT-proBNP of less than 1 500 pg/ml. A BNP of less than 200 pg/ml and an NT-proBNP of less than 1 000 pg/ml had excellent negative predictive values for excluding the diagnosis of cardiac failure. The authors conclude that the BNP and NT-proBNP are useful for the diagnosis of cardiac failure in acute dyspnoea of the elderly and seem to have a comparable diagnostic value.
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PMID:[Type B natriuretic peptide (BNP) versus n-terminal type B natriuretic propeptide in the diagnosis of cardiac failure in the elderly over 75 population]. 1661 22

Echocardiographic right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is a well-established prognostic indicator in patients with acute pulmonary embolism. However, the possibility of implementing a rapid and effective triage with biohumoral markers such as brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) may be of value. Sixty-one patients with a first documented episode of acute pulmonary embolism without shock and previous left ventricular dysfunction were prospectively studied. All patients underwent echocardiography and rapid BNP testing on admission. Patients were followed up for in-hospital death, progression to shock, and nonfatal pulmonary embolism recurrence. Overall, 35 patients (57%) had echocardiographic evidence of RV dysfunction on admission, and its prevalence increased progressively with increasing levels of BNP. A BNP level <85 pg/ml was highly accurate in excluding RV dysfunction. No patient in the lower tertile of BNP values (1.1 to 85.0 pg/ml) had RV dysfunction, compared with 75% in the middle tertile (88.7 to 487.0 pg/ml) and 100% in the upper tertile (527 to 1,300 pg/ml). Overall, 11 patients (18%), belonging to the upper tertile, progressed to shock during admission, 4 of whom died. The association of RV dysfunction with a BNP level in the upper tertile (>or=527 pg/ml) showed incremental prognostic value over RV dysfunction alone (in-hospital death and progression to shock were 55% and 31%, respectively). In the present study, BNP represented a powerful predictor of in-hospital clinical deterioration, with substantial incremental prognostic value over echocardiography alone.
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PMID:Usefulness of bedside testing for brain natriuretic peptide to identify right ventricular dysfunction and outcome in normotensive patients with acute pulmonary embolism. 1663 17

The most common causes for undiagnosed transudative effusions are congestive heart failure and hepatic hydrothorax. Pleural fluid N terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide levels higher than 1500 pg/mL are virtually diagnostic of congestive heart failure. The most common causes for undiagnosed exudative pleural effusions are malignancy, pulmonary embolism, and tuberculosis. Clinical characteristics of patients with a malignant pleural effusion are symptoms for more than 1 month, absence of fever, blood-tinged pleural fluid, and CT findings suggestive of malignancy. Thoracoscopy is useful to establish the diagnosis of malignancy and tuberculosis.
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PMID:The undiagnosed pleural effusion. 1671 20


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