Elevated levels of natriuretic peptides in patients with pulmonary thromboembolism

Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) occurs in a wide variety of clinical settings and presents a diagnostic challenge to clinicians, often requiring extensive imaging of the vascular bed. Management increasingly requires accurate risk stratification to rapidly identify those with massive and submassive PTE requiring different therapeutic strategies such as thrombolysis. Provision of a rapid blood test that improves diagnostic certainty and helps stratify risk could therefore bridge the gap between uncertainty and delivery of immediate early life-saving treatment.