Symptom-related screening programme for early detection of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension after acute pulmonary embolism: the SYSPPE study

BackgroundChronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is the most severe long-term complication of acute pulmonary embolism (PE). We aimed to evaluate the impact of a symptom screening programme to detect CTEPH in PE survivors.MethodsThis was a multicentre cohort study of patients diagnosed with acute symptomatic PE between January 2017 and December 2018 in 16 centres in Spain. Patients were contacted by phone 2 years after the index PE diagnosis. Those with dyspnoea corresponding to a New York Heart Association (NYHA)/WHO scale >= II, visited the outpatient clinic for echocardiography and further diagnostic tests including right heart catheterisation (RHC). The primary outcome was the new diagnosis of CTEPH confirmed by RHC.ResultsOut of 1077 patients with acute PE, 646 were included in the symptom screening. At 2 years, 21.8% (n=141) reported dyspnoea NYHA/WHO scale >= II. Before symptom screening protocol, five patients were diagnosed with CTEPH following routine care. In patients with NYHA/WHO scale >= II, after symptom screening protocol, the echocardiographic probability of pulmonary hypertension (PH) was low, intermediate and high in 76.6% (n=95), 21.8% (n=27) and 1.6% (n=2), respectively. After performing additional diagnostic test in the latter 2 groups, 12 additional CTEPH cases were confirmed.ConclusionsThe implementation of this simple strategy based on symptom evaluation by phone diagnosed more than doubled the number of CTEPH cases. Dedicated follow-up algorithms for PE survivors help diagnosing CTEPH earlier.Trial registration numberNCT03953560.

Automated summary

A symptom screening programme conducted via phone calls for PE survivors with dyspnoea NYHA/WHO scale >= II significantly increased the diagnosis rate of CTEPH. Implementing simple strategies can help diagnose CTEPH earlier.