Pulmonary embolism (PE) has experienced a rapid expansion in available treatments, from hyperacute emergency care to the detailed investigation of persistent breathlessness despite anticoagulation during follow up. Whilst recent clinical practice guidelines provide a robust evidence base for more routine aspects of pulmonary embolism management, clinicians frequently face patient-specific challenges where the evidence for how to proceed with patient management may be less secure.

Derived from the personal experience of expert clinicians who are engaged in all aspects of PE care, this book provides a practical update on contemporary management aspects from life-threatening presentation of pulmonary embolism with failed thrombolysis to the patient presenting with complex comorbidity or during pregnancy. General physicians and clinical specialists interested in contemporary diagnosis and management of acute pulmonary embolism will benefit from this book.

Contents:

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  Acute Care:

  
  
  
  
  • Getting the Diagnosis of Acute Pulmonary Embolism Right — Which Diagnostic Strategy? (Milou A M Stals, Menno V Huisman, and Frederikus A Klok)
  
  
  • Correct Risk Stratification at Diagnosis — Why It Matters? (Mariana Pfeferman and Gregory Piazza)
  
  
  • Outpatient Management of Pulmonary Embolism: Who Can I Send Home? (Bavithra Vijayakumar and Chris Davies)
  
  
  
  


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  Emergencies:

  
  
  
  
  • Navigating the Acute Treatment Landscape: An Overview (Eileen Harder)
  
  
  • Systemic Thrombolysis in Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Dose Considerations in Administration of Thrombolytics (Stella M Savarimuthu, Inderjit Singh, and Akhil Khosla)
  
  
  • Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis versus Mechanical Thrombolysis: Who to Consider and What to Expect (Narayan Karunanithy, Simon Padley, and Carole Ridge)
  
  
  • ECMO Referral and Right Ventricular MCS: When Should These Be Considered? (Benjamin Garfield, Richard Trimlett, and Susanna Price)
  
  
  
  


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  Special Situations:

  
  
  
  
  • Acute Pulmonary Embolism with Comorbidities — How Should I Change My Approach? (Chinthaka B Samaranayake and S John Wort)
  
  
  • Acute Pulmonary Embolism with Right Heart Thrombus — Does a Patent Foramen Ovale Matter? (Andrew Constantine and Aleksander Kempny)
  
  
  • Acute Pulmonary Embolism in Pregnancy (Elizabeth B Gay)
  
  
  • Recurrent PE on Anticoagulation — What Should I Do Differently? (Karen A Breen and Bhashkar Mukherjee)
  
  
  • Pulmonary Embolism with Contraindications to Anticoagulation — How to Proceed (Eileen Harder and Aaron B Waxman)
  
  
  
  


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  Follow-Up:

  
  
  
  
  • Anticoagulation: Which Agent and for How Long? (Charlie Lee and Karina C Shuttie)
  
  
  • Follow-Up Assessment — Who to Follow and How to Investigate? (Luke Howard and Colm McCabe)
  
  
  • Long-Term Breathlessness Despite Anticoagulation — What are the Treatment Options? (Wei Qi and David M Systrom)
  
  
  • COVID-19-Associated Thrombosis (Christina Crossette-Thambiah, Laura C Price, and Deepa J Arachchillage)
  
  
  
  

Readership: Hospital clinicians, undergraduate and postgraduate trainees, acute internal medicine specialists, cardiologists, pulmonologists, haematologists, specialist nurses (anticoagulation), medical students.

Key Features:

• Pulmonary embolism is a potentially life-threatening condition and has recently experienced rapid expansion in treatment options both in the emergency setting at presentation through to follow up care months later


• Recent guidelines fail to capture several aspects of PE care faced by clinicians such as eligibility for extracorporeal support, who to prioritise for catheter-directed thrombolysis, how to treat the patient with pulmonary embolism and comorbidities and what strategy to employ at follow up


• This book contains expert opinions from eminent contributors engaged with each of their authored topics and provides practical advice in a highly readable format


• Recent aspects of COVID-associated thrombosis diagnosis and management are also described in a dedicated chapter