Early Use of Echocardiography in Patients With Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Findings From the RIETE Registry

Background Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is often considered for risk stratification of patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). We sought to determine the contemporary utilization of early TTE (within 72 hours of PE diagnosis) and explored the association between TTE findings and PE‐related mortality. Methods and Results Data from the RIETE (Registro Informatizado Enfermedad TromboEmbolica) registry, a multicenter registry of consecutive patients with acute PE, were used (2001–July 2017). We used a generalized linear mixed model to determine predictors of early TTE performance. Moreover, the association between 3 TTE variables (right atrial enlargement, right ventricular hypokinesis, and presence of right heart thrombi) and 30‐day PE‐related mortality was assessed in generalized linear mixed models adjusted for PE severity index, and other comorbidities. Among 35 935 enrollees with acute PE, 15 375 (42.8%) underwent early TTE. There was an increase in early TTE utilization rate over time (P