Study of Pulmonary Embolism Detection in Adults With Acute Heart Failure A Randomized Trial Comparing Usual Care to Systematic Testing

What this Trial Is About

This research aims to understand the frequency of pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in the lungs, in patients with acute heart failure, a condition where the heart struggles to pump blood effectively. These two conditions share symptoms like sudden shortness of breath, making pulmonary embolism hard to detect in heart failure patients. The study investigates whether systematically testing for pulmonary embolism improves diagnosis and patient care compared to usual practice, where testing is done case by case. Participants will be admitted to hospitals with recent or worsening breathing problems and signs of acute heart failure. In some hospitals, doctors will use a step-by-step screening method involving clinical scores, blood tests for D-dimer, ultrasound scans, and CT scans to detect pulmonary embolism within 48 hours of admission. In other hospitals, doctors will follow their usual approach without systematic testing. Researchers will compare these two approaches to see how often pulmonary embolism is found and how patient outcomes differ. During the hospital stay and for three months afterward, participants will be monitored for survival, new blood clots, bleeding events, repeat hospital visits, and total hospital days. Information about symptoms, tests, diagnoses, and treatments will be collected. This monitoring aims to provide a clearer understanding of pulmonary embolism rates and whether systematic screening leads to earlier detection and better care, potentially reducing complications or deaths related to missed diagnoses.

Pulmonary Embolism in Patients With Acute Heart Failure (PEHF Study)