Multidisciplinary Pulmonary Embolism Response Teams

Abstract

The online-only Data Supplement is available with this article at http://circ.ahajournals.org/lookup/suppl

Multidisciplinary pulmonary embolism response teams and systems

“…There are a number of recently published articles describing how PERT programs rapidly initiate and implement thoughtful treatment plans for patients with severe PE (3,4). Currently, promising novel therapeutic approaches and tools are being developed to treat PE.…”

“…Although we have preliminary reports from multiple institutions on the value of PERTs, the presumed benefits and impact of this multi-specialty care require further evaluation (3,4). In addition to the outcomes of mortality, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and functional status post PE, the PERT community needs to examine if PERTs improve clinical targets such as time to or completeness of anticoagulation, utilization of guideline directed therapies, duration of hospital stay and quality of life.…”

“…Many institutions are building pulmonary embolism response teams (PERTs) to bring together specialists to discuss their expert consensus opinions about the intricacies of challenging PE cases (2)(3)(4). PERTs develop in many different forms to take advantage of locally available resources and suit local clinical demands.…”

Pulmonary embolism response teams: Purpose, evidence for efficacy, and future research directions

“…Occasionally, and if feasible, the patient or a family member is included in those conversations. To date, there are 32 published descriptions or reviews of how various PERTs establish, organize, operate, and/or manage their programs (Table ) . To identify published studies on PERT, we conducted a systematic search of the literature for publications in MEDLINE and EMBASE from inception to November 2018 using the following search strategy: (pulmonary) and (embolism) and (response) and (team or teams) or (PERT) or (PERTs).…”

Review of the British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting 2017, 6–8 December 2017, London, UK

“…Furthermore, lower dose (8 mg tissue plasminogen activator (tPA)) and shorter duration (2 hours) therapy was recently shown to be as effective as standard catheter-directed regimens (24 mg tPA over 12–24 hours) for submassive PE. In some centres in the USA, multidisciplinary PE teams have been founded to evaluate patients and make treatment decisions 18. This is especially useful in the care of intermediate/high risk PE, where clinical trial data and guidelines are inadequate.…”