title: Association of right ventricular dilatation with bilateral pulmonary embolism, pulmonary embolism in a main pulmonary artery and lobar, segmental and subsegmental pulmonary embolism in 190 patients with acute pulmonary embolism.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) may result in right ventricular (RV) pressure overload with a dilated RV which can be diagnosed by two-dimensional echocardiography.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis was performed in 190 unselected patients who had acute PE documented by contrast-enhanced spiral computed tomographic scanning. The 190 patients included 104 women and 86 men, mean age 58 +/- 15 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RV dilatation was present in 45 of 70 patients (64%) with bilateral PE, in 19 of 120 patients (16%) without bilateral PE, in 42 of 47 patients (89%) with main pulmonary artery embolism, in 34 of 84 patients (40%) with lobar PE, in 16 of 70 patients (23%) with segmental PE and in 6 of 36 patients (17%) with subsegmental PE; p < 0.001 comparing bilateral with no bilateral PE and main pulmonary artery embolism with no main pulmonary artery embolism, with lobar, segmental and subsegmental PE; p < 0.025 comparing lobar with segmental PE, and p < 0.02 comparing lobar with subsegmental PE.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of RV dilatation is highest in patients with main pulmonary artery embolism or bilateral pulmonary artery embolism; furthermore, the prevalence of RV dilatation is higher in patients with lobar PE than in patients with segmental or subsegmental PE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Cardiology Division, Westchester Medical Center/New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA.
authors.forename: Rishi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sukhija
authors.forename: Wilbert S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Aronow
authors.forename: Kiran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yalamanchili
authors.forename: Jooyun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: McClung
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: Robert N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Belkin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies