Acute Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension

Acute pulmonary thromboembolism is a common and life-threatening condition that requires prompt evaluation and management to improve outcomes. In severe cases, acute pulmonary thromboembolism causes a rapid rise in pulmonary pressures precipitating compromised right ventricular (RV) function. Acute elevation in pulmonary pressures with RV failure is associated with poor outcome. When pulmonary thromboembolic disease is detected, further assessment of its impact on cardiac function is required for risk stratification and to determine appropriate therapy. This evaluation requires appropriate diagnosis of pulmonary throm‐ boembolic disease as well as assessment of hemodynamics and RV function with electrocar‐ diograms (ECG), echocardiography and commonly available biomarkers (Tapson 2012).