Late Prognosis of Acute Pulmonary Embolism

Abstract

Sixty consecutive patients who survived an episode of acute pulmonary embolism documented by pulmonary angiography were assessed one to seven years later (average follow-up period, 29 months) to determine long-term prognosis. Thirty-nine were alive, 19 (32 per cent) had died, and two were lost to follow-up study. Survival largely depended on cardiac status before embolism. Of 42 patients without left ventricular failure, 36 survived. However, of 16 with failure before embolism, only three survived. Follow-up lung scans and arterial-blood gases in the survivors and autopsy in those who died demonstrated resolution of embolism in most patients. Of 43 with adequate follow-up data, resolution was complete in 28 (65 per cent) and partial in 10 (23 per cent); unresolved embolism persisted in only five patients (12 per cent), with resultant chronic cor pulmonale in only one. Recurrent embolism was documented in only one. The long-term prognosis of patients who survive acute embolism thus appears to be dependent on the presence or absence of prior heart disease. (N Engl J Med 289:55–58, 1973)