Exercise Limitation After Acute Pulmonary Embolism

During the months after successfully treated acute pulmonary embolism (PE), some patients report exercise limitation or persistent exertional dyspnea. In this Canadian study that involved 100 patients with acute uncomplicated PE, researchers performed physiologic assessments at 1, 6, and 12 months; the goal was to determine whether circulatory impairment, ventilatory impairment, or muscle deconditioning contributed to persistent symptoms at 1 year. Patients with previous PE and those with major comorbidities were excluded.

On cardiopulmonary exercise testing, mean peak oxygen uptake (VO₂) increased significantly between 1 and 12 months, but nearly half the patients still exhibited abnormally low peak VO₂ (<80% of predicted) at 12 months. Pat…