Acute pulmonary artery thromboembolism treated with thrombolysis: diagnostic and monitoring uses of transoesophageal echocardiography.

Abstract

The central pulmonary arteries and any thrombus within them can be imaged by transoesophageal echocardiography. Its use is reported in the diagnosis and subsequent management of a patient with acute pulmonary embolism, whose response to thrombolytic treatment was monitored by further transoesophageal studies. Transoesophageal echocardiography may be a valuable primary diagnostic procedure in patients who seem to have sustained a significant pulmonary embolus and require urgent intervention.