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Although relatively rare, saddle pulmonary embolism (PE) represents a large clot burden and is therefore sometimes treated with thrombolytic therapy or even embolectomy, especially in hemodynamically unstable patients. To assess management and outcomes of patients with saddle PE, researchers performed a retrospective analysis of 680 adult patients with PE diagnosed by computed tomography (CT) angiography at a tertiary hospital in Philadelphia from 2004 to 2009.
Two radiologists who were blinded to clinical histories reviewed CT scans and identified saddle PE in 37 patients (5.4%). Median age was 60; 41% of patients were men. Right ventricular enlargement and dysfunction were present in 21 of 27 patients (78%) who underwent echocardiography. …