Echocardiography in assessing acute pulmonary hypertension due to pulmonary embolism

Eighteen patients with acute pulmonary embolism were studied with right heart catheterization and M mode echocardiography. No patient had evidence of preexisting cardiopulmonary disease; pulmonary embolism was documented with pulmonary angiography. The mean pulmonary arterial pressure correlated with the angiographic severity index of embolic obstruction (r = 0.61, p 2 , p 2 ) and in 5 patients with acute pulmonary embolism and a mean normal pulmonary arterial pressure (10.9 ± 0.4 mm/m 2 ). For all measurements the index size of the right pulmonary artery correlated with the mean pulmonary arterial pressure (r = 0.84, p