Diagnostic Accuracy of Early Systolic Notching in Pulmonary Embolism

Venous thromboembolism (VTE), clinically seen as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE), is the third most common acute cardiovascular syndrome after myocardial infarction and stroke. In a study conducted by critical care and emergency physicians, lung ultrasonography (US) for pleural infarction areas, lower extremity venous US in terms of DVT, and focused cardiac US in terms of right ventricular strain were demonstrated with different diagnostic values for PE. However, no ultrasonographic method alone has a high diagnostic value for PE alone in the literature. In a recent study, it is stated that a new cardiac finding (early systolic notch- ESN) has high sensitivity (92%) and specificity (99%) in massive and submassive emboli. However, the limited patient population and the exclusion of many patient groups limits the applicability of the study and its use in other patient groups. With this study, it was aimed to determine the diagnostic value of ESN finding within the emergency department conditions by keeping the patient population wider.