Scope of the problem - An increasing burden of disease Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a problem encountered by a majority of medical and surgical specialties in their scope of practice. Acute PE is currently the 3rd leading cause of cardiovascular death in the United States, resulting in 100,000 deaths annually as estimated by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC (1). There is a paucity of data and a broad range of estimates for both incidence and morbidity due to acute PE. The mortality of all patients presenting with acute PE is estimated between 10-30% at 90 days utilizing current treatment regimens (2). The incidence of acute symptomatic PE seems to be increasing from 3/100 to more than 6.5/100 in the past 15 years (2). The increasing burden of disease has led to a period of intense investigation into new therapies and strategies to treat acute PE. [Full article available at http://rimed.org/rimedicaljournal-2017-05.asp].
Keywords: PESI; RV to LV ratio; catheter-directed thrombolysis; pulmonary embolism; pulmonary embolism response team.