Short- and Long-term Mortality Risk After Acute Pulmonary Embolism

Purpose of Review

Acute pulmonary embolism is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the USA and throughout the world. This review will summarize recent developments in short- and long-term mortality risk assessment after an acute pulmonary embolism.

Recent Findings

Recent guidelines have emphasized risk stratification of acute PE patients on the basis of blood pressure, right ventricular size, and biomarker status. Ongoing work is testing various acute treatment strategies for improvement of symptom burden, length of stay, quality of life, and possibly mortality risk reduction. Long-term outcomes among subjects with acute PE are less well studied. Long-term mortality largely correlates with baseline co-morbidity burden, although there may be an association between acute PE severity and long-term outcomes.

Summary

Acute PE risk stratification and treatment, as well as long-term follow-up of patients with acute PE, are rapidly developing areas and many promising innovations are underway.