Linking To And Embedding HCPLive’s “New Pulmonary Embolism Guidelines Highlight Progress, Encourage Research, With Mark Creager, MD”

The following article is what is referenced in the video below:

2026 AHA/ACC/ACCP/ACEP/CHEST/SCAI/SHM/SIR/SVM/SVN Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Acute Pulmonary Embolism in Adults: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines [PubMed Abstract] [Full-Text HTML] [Full-Text PDF]. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2026 Feb 19:S0735-1097(25)10161-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2025.11.005. Online ahead of print.

The above article is summarized in:

First AHA/ACC acute pulmonary embolism guideline: prompt diagnosis and treatment are key: A new clinical classification system to assess the severity of an acute pulmonary embolism, a condition in which a blood clot blocks the arteries in the lungs, and recommendations to guide treatment strategies are detailed in the new 2026 joint guideline from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardioloy. DALLAS and WASHINGTON (Feb 19, 2026).

Early detection and prompt treatment of acute pulmonary embolism (PE), a sudden and potentially life-threatening blood clot that blocks arteries in the lungs, is critical. Comprehensive recommendations for the evaluation, management and follow-up care for adults with acute PE are detailed in this new clinical practice guideline, published today in the American Heart Association’s flagship peer-reviewed journal Circulation and in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Today, I review and embed HCPLive‘s “New Pulmonary Embolism Guidelines Highlight Progress, Encourage Research, With Mark Creager, MD”.

All that follows is from the above resource.

New Pulmonary Embolism Guidelines Highlight Progress, Encourage Research, With Mark Creager, MD 

Feb 25, 2026 #cardiology #pulmonaryembolism

On February 19, 2026, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) released a clinical practice guideline for acute pulmonary embolism (PE) treatment, the first of its kind from these institutions. Prominent among this guideline is a new clinical classification scheme, dividing patients into 5 main categories A through E, equivalent to low to high risk of adverse outcomes. Category A includes patients exhibiting incidental and asymptomatic embolism, with no subgroups. Category B includes symptomatic patients with a low clinical severity score and is divided into B1, which includes subsegmental presentations, and B2, which includes non-subsegmental presentations. Category C includes patients with an elevated clinical severity score and is comprised of three subgroups. C1 includes those with normal RV and normal biomarkers; C2 includes abnormal RV or ≥1 abnormal biomarker; C3 includes patients with both abnormal RV and ≥1 abnormal biomarker. Category D includes patients with incipient cardiopulmonary failure: D1 includes patients with transient hypotension, while D2 includes those with normotensive shock. Finally, Category E is cardiopulmonary failure, with E1 including recurrent or persistent hypotension with cardiogenic shock and E2 including refractory cardiogenic shock or cardiac arrest. Now, in an interview with HCPLive, Mark Creager, director emeritus of the heart and vascular center at Dartmouth University and chair of the committee, discussed the high points of these guidelines and the research that still needs to be done.

“This is a new clinical categorization of acute pulmonary embolism, and we’re using this to help guide clinicians who are managing patients with acute pulmonary embolism in how they can manage these patients most effectively and most safely,” Creager told HCPLive.

Key Timestamps
00:00:01 Intro
00:00:09 Guideline overview
00:06:58 Anticoagulation in complex situations
00:07:44 Interdisciplinary teams
00:10:06 Evidence gaps and future research
00:13:24 Next steps

#cardiology #pulmonaryembolism