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Letter to the Editor| Volume 180, P58-59, February 01, 2015

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Comparison between Saddle versus Non-Saddle Pulmonary Embolism: Insights from Nationwide Inpatient Sample

Published:November 25, 2014DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2014.11.134
      Saddle pulmonary embolism (PE) is defined as the presence of a visible thromboembolus that straddles the bifurcation of the main pulmonary artery. It occurs in about 2–5% of all PE cases [
      • Ryu J.H.
      • Pellikka P.A.
      • Froehling D.A.
      • Peters S.G.
      • Aughenbaugh G.L.
      Saddle pulmonary embolism diagnosed by CT angiography: frequency, clinical features and outcome.
      ]. Visualization of saddle PE on a Computed Tomography (CT) scan causes alarm among physicians due to the possibility of a large clot burden and impending hemodynamic collapse. However, recent studies have challenged this reflexive assumption, along with the assumption that clot burden predicts outcomes [
      • Furlan A.
      • Aghayev A.
      • Chang C.-C.H.
      • Patil A.
      • Jeon K.N.
      • Park B.
      • Fetzer D.T.
      • Saul M.
      • Roberts M.S.
      • Bae K.T.
      Short-term mortality in acute pulmonary embolism: clot burden and signs of right heart dysfunction at CT pulmonary angiography.
      ].

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      References

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        Short-term mortality in acute pulmonary embolism: clot burden and signs of right heart dysfunction at CT pulmonary angiography.
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      1. HCUP Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP).
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