Cardiac arrest due to pulmonary embolism

Abstract

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a potentially life threatening clinical condition that is fairly non-specific in presentation. Massive pulmonary embolism (PE) without cardiac arrest has been associated with a mortality rate of 30%. However, when cardiac arrest ensues, mortality may be as high as 95%. Since outcomes of cardiac arrest following PE are generally dismal, any available potentially life-saving measure must be instituted when the diagnosis of PE is suspected. Despite a lack of randomized controlled trials guiding the management of suspected PE in the cardiac arrest victim, thrombolysis and other therapies have been associated with good outcomes in the handful of published case reports and other small studies.