Thrombolysis in pulmonary embolism

Abstract

Pulmonary embolism (PE) thrombolysis has remained controversial for the past 30 years. The major issues surrounding this controversy are listed in Table 1 and center around whether this strategy is effective, safe, and cost saving. Most studies of PE thrombolysis have been case series, undertaken without a prospective comparison group. The gold standard, however, remains the randomized clinical trial in which thrombolysis is compared with anticoagulation alone in a population of patients not tainted by selection bias.