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H Gurba

Publications and source records attributed to H Gurba.

3 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

[Transesophageal echocardiography--a method for prompt diagnosis of acute hemodynamically significant pulmonary embolism].

UNLABELLED: Patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) may require prompt confirmation of PE before aggressive therapy such as embolectomy or thrombolysis. However, emergency availability of routine diagnostic tests often remains a problem. Therefore, we assessed prospectively the diagnostic value of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), recently reported to be useful in the diagnosis of PE. TEE was performed in 76 consecutive patients (42 F, 34 M) aged 66.7 +/- 15.8 yrs with suspected acute PE with echocardiographic signs of right ventricular pressure overload, but without known coexisting cardiorespiratory diseases. Pulmonary artery thrombi (TH) were visualized at TEE in 69.7% (53) pts. PE was confirmed by high probability lung scintigraphy and/or spiral CT in all these cases. Additionally, PE was diagnosed in 11 others without TEE-reported TH. In the 12 remaining patients PE was eventually excluded (specificity 100%, sensitivity 82.8%). Therefore, TEE in the diagnosis of hemodynamically significant PE reached 100%. No clinically important adverse events were observed during TEE. CONCLUSION: Transesophageal echocardiography is reliable and safe method of prompt confirmation of hemodynamically significant acute pulmonary embolism with relatively high sensitivity in adequately preselected patients. However, due to topographic limitations negative result of TEE does not exclude PE.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Noninvasive diagnosis of suspected severe pulmonary embolism: transesophageal echocardiography vs spiral CT.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) and echocardiographic signs of right ventricular overload have worse prognosis and may require aggressive therapy. Unequivocal confirmation of PE is required before thrombolysis or embolectomy. This study compares the value of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and spiral CT (sCT) in direct visualization of pulmonary artery thromboemboli in patients with suspected PE and echocardiographic signs of right ventricular overload. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty-nine consecutive patients (29 men and 20 women), aged 52.2+/-18.3 years, with clinical suspicion of acute (23) or chronic (26) PE and otherwise unexplained right ventricular overload at transthoracic echocardiography underwent TEE and sCT. Main and lobar (central) pulmonary arteries were searched for emboli with both TEE and sCT, while segmental and subsegmental (distal) pulmonary arteries were searched only with sCT. RESULTS: Of 40 patients with PE confirmed by high-probability lung scan (27) or angiography (13), central pulmonary arterial emboli were found at TEE and sCT in 32 (80%) and 36 (90%) patients, respectively. Neither method reported false central PE (specificity, 100%). When distal pulmonary arteries were analyzed, sensitivity of sCT increased to 97.5%, but three patients with primary pulmonary hypertension according to standard tests were misclassified as having distal PE (specificity, 90.1%). Most patients had bilateral PE according to sCT (34/36) and standard tests (40/40) but not TEE (15/32), probably due to its topographic limitations. CONCLUSIONS: Because of high prevalence of bilateral central pulmonary thromboemboli in patients with hemodynamically significant PE, both sCT and TEE allow its definitive confirmation in most cases. Thrombi reported by sCT distally to lobar arteries should be interpreted with caution.

Acute Disease↗