Diagnostic Strategies in Pulmonary Embolism.

Key to the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) is a careful bedside evaluation. After this, there are three further diagnostic steps. In all patients, estimation of the clinical probability of PE is performed.

Treatment of Cardiogenic Shock and Refractory Ventricular Fibrillation: Pulling Out All the Stops.

We report the case of a 62-year-old woman who presented with an acute inferior wall myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock and refractory ventricular fibrillation. Following prolonged resuscitation in the emergency room, she was transferred to the cardiac catheterization laboratory where, as a first step, mechanical circulatory support with venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was established. Next, a right heart catheterization study was performed, followed by coronary angiography and angioplasty of the infarct-related artery.