Diuretics Versus Volume Expansion in the Initial Management of Acute Intermediate High-Risk Pulmonary Embolism.

Aims: The very early management of pulmonary embolism (PE), a part from antithrombotic treatment, has been little studied. Our aim was to compare the effects of diuretic therapy (DT) versus volume expansion (VE) in patients hospitalized for PE with RV dysfunction.

Methods And Results: We conducted a randomized open-label multicentric study including patients with intermediate high-risk PE.

Is pulmonary embolism recurrence linked with the severity of the first event? A French retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: Severity of a first pulmonary embolism (PE) is sometimes proposed as a criterion for prolonging anticoagulant treatment. However, little evidence supports this idea. We attempted to determine the connection between severity of first PE and the risk of recurrence.

Characteristics of Cardiac Injury in Critically Ill Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019.

Background: Cardiac injury has been reported in up to 30% of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. However, cardiac injury is defined mainly by troponin elevation without description of associated structural abnormalities and its time course has not been studied.

Research Question: What are the ECG and echocardiographic abnormalities as well as their time course in critically ill COVID-19 patients?

Study Design And Methods: The cardiac function of 43 consecutive COVID-19 patients admitted to two ICUs was assessed prospectively and repeatedly, combining ECG, cardiac biomarker, and transthoracic echocardiographic analyses from ICU admission to ICU discharge or death or to a maximum follow-up of 14 days.

Cardiac anatomical axes by CT scan and confirmation of the accuracy of fluoroscopic individualized left anterior oblique projection for right ventricular lead implantation.

Background: The fluoroscopic individualized LAO (i-LAO) projection has demonstrated high accuracy for identifying right ventricular (RV) lead positioning, likely by approximating a view along the septal or RV long axes. However, RV and septal anatomical axes have not been studied, and their relation with i-LAO is unknown. We sought to determine RV, septal, and left ventricular (LV) long-axis orientations by CT scan and to compare them to the i-LAO angle, to confirm the anatomical relevance of i-LAO.