Evaluation of Risk Stratification Markers and Models in Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Rationale and Design of the MARS-PE (Mainz Retrospective Study of Pulmonary Embolism) Study Programme

Keller, Karsten; Beule, Johannes; Balzer, Jörn Oliver; Dippold, Wolfgang

doi:10.14712/18059694.2018.124

Acta Medica > Archive > 2018, Vol. 61 > Issue 3 > Evaluation of Risk Stratification…

Acta Med. 2018, 61: 93-97

https://doi.org/10.14712/18059694.2018.124

Evaluation of Risk Stratification Markers and Models in Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Rationale and Design of the MARS-PE (Mainz Retrospective Study of Pulmonary Embolism) Study Programme

Karsten Keller^a,b, Johannes Beule^c, Jörn Oliver Balzer^d,e, Wolfgang Dippold^c

^aCenter for Thrombosis and Hemostasis, University Medical Center Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany
^bCenter of Cardiology, Department of Cardiology I, University Medical Center Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany
^cDepartment of Internal Medicine, St. Vincenz and Elisabeth Hospital Mainz (KKM), Mainz, Germany
^dDepartment of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Catholic Clinic Mainz (KKM), Mainz, Germany
^eDepartment of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Clinic, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt, Germany

Received November 28, 2017
Accepted July 9, 2018

An acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a crucial event in patients’ life and connected with serious morbidity and mortality. Regarding a high case-fatality rate, early and accurate risk-stratification is crucial. Risk for mortality and complications are closely related to hemodynamic stability and cardiac adaptations. The currently recommended risk-stratification approach is not overall simple to use and might delay the identification of those patients, who should be monitored more closely and may treated with more aggressive treatment strategies. Additionally, some risk-stratification criteria for the imaging procedures are still imprecise. Summarized, the search for the most effective risk-stratification tools is still ongoing and some diagnostic criteria might have to be refined. In the MAinz Retrospective Study of Pulmonary Embolism (MARS-PE), overall 182 consecutive patients with confirmed PE were retrospectively included over a 5-year period. Clinical, echocardiographic, functional and laboratory parameters were assessed. The study was designed to provide answers to some of the mentioned relevant questions.