Juliana Dudko, Asta Mačiulienė, Giedrė Bakšytė, Andrius Macas
Abstract
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a relatively common life-threatening situation in anaesthesiologists‘ and intensivists‘ clinical practice. Obstruction of the pulmonary artery (PA) circulation and increased pressure in it leads to right ventricular failure. Early diagnosis of PE is fundamental for immediate and highly effective treatment. Transesophageal echocardiography (TOE) was the main method of haemodynamic evaluation in anaesthesia and critical care. However with the increasing availability of small and portable echocardiography machines focused haemodynamic evaluation using transthoracic echocardiography became feasible for noncardiologists. A number of different named examination protocols exist. In this article abnormal echocardiographic findings in patients with pulmonary embolism are asssessed using Focus Assessed Transthoracic Echocardiography (FATE protocol), their predictive value for pulmonary embolism outcome and management are described.
Keyword(s): anaesthesia; acute pulmonary embolism; echocardiography
DOI: 10.5200/sm-hs.2015.056
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