[Thrombolytic therapy in acute pulmonary embolism].

The debate about thrombolysis in acute pulmonary embolism (PE) as an adjunctive therapy to heparin is ongoing for about 35 years. Thrombolysis dissolves thromboemboli faster than heparin in combination with spontaneous lysis. So, thrombolysis achieves a faster normalization of the pulmonary artery pressure. Thrombolysis may be life-saving in patients with cardiogenic shock and in patients with hemodynamic instability due to massive PE. It is still on discussion whether patients with right heart strain who are hemodynamically stable should be treated with thrombolysis. Inconsistent definitions of right heart strain may be responsible for the lack of evidence for reducing mortality by thrombolysis. The authors' right heart score (R-S(Wacker)) enables physicians to describe the right heart strain in patients with PE quantitatively. The R-S(Wacker) is of prognostic value with regard to in-hospital mortality and 6-month mortality. Patients with a normal to moderately elevated R-S(Wacker) have an excellent outcome (0% in-hospital mortality) and do not profit from thrombolysis. In patients with relevant right heart strain thrombolysis may be discussed, especially in combination with an elevation of the biomarkers troponin I or T and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP). Patients with intracardiac thromboemboli, especially in the presence of a patent foramen ovale, should receive thrombolysis, in selected cases surgery should be done. Therapy and therapy escalation are highly dependent on the time interval after diagnosis of PE: patients who survive the first 24 h and who are on heparin in therapeutic dosage without any interruption have a good prognosis. Therefore, therapy escalation after 24 h or even later should be an exception.