%0 Journal Article
%T Ultrasound
%A Andrew Galmer
%A Gaurav Rao
%A Hai Xu
%A Ido Weinberg
%A Jason J Wang
%A Jay Giri
%A Joe F Lau
%A Michael R Jaff
%A Mitchell D Weinberg
%A Raghu Kolluri
%A Samy Selim
%J Vascular Medicine
%@ 1477-0377
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1358863X19838334
%X Both catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) and ultrasound-assisted thrombolysis (USAT) are novel treatment modalities for patients presenting with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). The objective of this study was to compare clinical and quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes for patients undergoing either treatment modality. We retrospectively studied 70 consecutive patients treated with either CDT or USAT over 3 years at a multicenter health system. The primary clinical efficacy endpoint was right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) reduction post-procedurally. Safety endpoints were mortality and bleeding incidents based on Global Utilization of Streptokinase and Tissue Plasminogen Activator for Occluded Arteries (GUSTO) criteria. Long-term QOL was assessed using the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) via phone interview. Thirty-seven patients (53%) in our study underwent USAT and 33 (47%) patients were treated with conventional CDT. Among all patients studied, 96% had echocardiographic evidence for right ventricular strain on admission. Mean RVSP decreased by 18 ¡À 13 mmHg in the USAT group post-procedurally as compared to 14 ¡À 16 mmHg in the CDT group, without significant difference between groups (p = 0.31). Rates of moderate and severe bleeding were largely identical between USAT and CDT groups (USAT: 3%; CDT: 0%; p = 0.09). There was no death in either group during admission. At long-term follow-up, there was no significant difference in QOL between both treatment modalities in all eight functional domains of SF-36. Our retrospective study demonstrated using USAT over conventional CDT for acute submassive or massive PE did not yield additional clinical, safety, or long-term QOL benefit
%K endovascular therapy
%K pulmonary embolism (PE)
%K quality of life
%K thrombolytic therapy
%K catheter-directed thrombolysis
%K ultrasound-assisted thrombolysis
%K bleeding
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1358863X19838334