Background
Venous thromboembolism clinically manifested as deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism[1, 2]. It is globally the third major cause of acute cardiovascular death[2] as a major health problem. Rapid and accurate diagnosis is crucial for the clinical management of patients with acute pulmonary embolism (APE). However, APE encompasses a wide clinical spectrum of severity[3, 4], ranging from asymptomatic disease to hemodynamic instability and shock. Due to the nonspecifific clinical signs and symptoms, a diagnosis of APE is frequently extremely challenging[3].
In patients with suspected PE, multidetector computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) is the preferred method for imaging the pulmonary vasculature[1].Echocardiography examination is not a routine diagnostic procedure in hemodynamic stable APE patients[5], but might detect an increase in right ventricular wall thickness or a jet velocity of tricuspid insufficiency beyond values compatible with acute right ventricular pressure overload[6].In addition to these indirect signs, emboli in the pulmonary artery may occasionally be found in certain nonstandard echocardiographic views[1].Herein, we report 1 case of intermediate-risk APE patient with visualized pulmonary arterial thrombus by transthoracic echocardiography.