Pulmonary embolism in younger and older adults: clinical presentation and comparison of right ventricular dysfunction, a new prognostic echocardiographic index

Previous reports suggested that clinical presentation of pulmonary embolism (PE) could be different in younger as compared with older patients and the presence of right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) at echocardiography could identify a group of PE patients with poor short-term prognosis. We tested these hypotheses and compared in these two groups a new prognostic echocardiographic index: the RVD.