Pulmonary thromboembolic disease. Clinical management of acute and chronic disease.

Pulmonary thromboembolism falls between the areas of pulmonology and cardiology, internal medicine and intensive care, radiology and nuclear medicine, and hematology and cardiothoracic surgery. Depending on their clinical background, physicians faced with a patient with a pulmonary thromboembolism may speak different languages and adopt different treatment approaches. Now, however, there is an opportunity to end the Tower of Babel surrounding pulmonary thromboembolism. There is a growing acknowledgement that the key clinical problems in both acute pulmonary embolism and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension are linked to right ventricular pressure overload and right ventricular failure. As a result, cardiologists and cardiac intensive care specialists are taking an increasing interest in understanding and combating these conditions. The European Society of Cardiology was the first to elaborate comprehensive clinical practice guidelines for pulmonary thromboembolism and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. The task forces involved in producing these guidelines included radiologists, pulmonologists, hematologists, intensive care physicians and surgeons, which ensured that the final document was universally acceptable. The aim of this article was to provide an overview of the epidemiology, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and prevention of acute pulmonary thromboembolism and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, while taking into account European Society of Cardiology guidelines and incorporating new evidence where necessary.