Valor prognóstico dos métodos de imagem na embolia pulmonar aguda

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is the third most common cause of acute cardiovascular disease after myocardial infarction and stroke. Prompt diagnosis, risk stratification and treatment of patients with PE can reduce the associated mortality. Developments in imaging technology in recent years have led to changes in approaches to PE, one of the most significant being the replacement of conventional pulmonary angiography as the gold standard for diagnosis of PE by multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) angiography, whose superiority is acknowledged in the most recent European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines on PE. MDCT has rapidly become the most widely used exam to confirm the diagnosis of acute PE, as well as to identify signs of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction, or to provide alternative diagnoses. While the role of MDCT in diagnosis of acute PE is well established, its value in establishing the prognosis of these patients is still the subject of considerable research.