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Outcomes of pulmonary embolism response teams: a systematic review

Elena Drews1, Ashley Yearwood2, Esteban Aguayo3

  • 1Department of Radiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA - edrews@mednet.ucla.edu.

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery
|June 3, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Pulmonary embolism response teams (PERT) show a trend toward improved patient outcomes, including lower mortality and shorter hospital stays. PERT should be considered standard care for acute pulmonary embolism management.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Pulmonary Medicine
  • Health Services Research

Background:

  • Pulmonary embolism response teams (PERT) were established in 2012 for acute pulmonary embolism (PE) management.
  • Systematic evaluation of PERT's clinical impact is now possible due to accumulated data.
  • This review compares patient outcomes with and without PERT implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the impact of PERT implementation on patient outcomes in acute PE.
  • To compare clinical outcomes between patients managed with PERT and those without.

Main Methods:

  • A systematic literature search was conducted on PubMed for studies on pulmonary embolism response teams.
  • Eligible studies compared PERT activation outcomes with non-PERT outcomes, including at least ten patients.

Main Results:

  • 26 studies involving 19,968 patients were analyzed.
  • PERT implementation showed a trend toward lower mortality (8.2% vs. 8.8%) and fewer recurrent DVTs.
  • Trends indicated shorter hospital and ICU lengths of stay and reduced bleeding events with PERT.

Conclusions:

  • Observational data suggests improved outcomes for PERT compared to non-PERT management of acute PE.
  • PERT should be considered the standard of care for acute PE in hospitals with adequate capacity.
  • Optimizing PERT structure and activation is crucial for maximizing patient outcome improvements.
Abstract

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