A Review of the Usefulness of Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis for Pulmonary Embolism

Venous thromboembolic disease (VTE) is a health problem; around 10 million cases occur yearly with substantial morbidity and mortality. Those who survive may be left with long-term sequelae. Those sequelae might include chronic thromboembolic pul-monary hypertension, persistent right ventricular dys-function, exercise intolerance, and reduced quality of life. Current PE management consists of anticoagula-tion alone, systemic thrombolysis, catheter-directed thrombolysis, and surgical embolectomy. The severity of patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) depends on the clinic and not exclusively on the extent of radiologi-cal or anatomical involvement. In this review, we present the main clinical and func-tional characteristics of patients in whom thrombotic fragmentation plus catheter-guided thrombolysis is used to manage acute PE of intermediate-high risk and torpid evolution within the first hours of admis-sion. (Curr Probl Cardiol 2023;48:101197.)