Massive pulmonary embolism and its treatment with thrombolysis both carry grave risks. Optimal management hinges on determining the risk-to-benefit ratio of thrombolytic administration. For patients with liver dysfunction, assessing bleeding… Click to show full abstract
Massive pulmonary embolism and its treatment with thrombolysis both carry grave risks. Optimal management hinges on determining the risk-to-benefit ratio of thrombolytic administration. For patients with liver dysfunction, assessing bleeding risk is challenging because they may have elevations in the international normalized ratio yet be hypercoagulable. We describe a patient with massive pulmonary embolism and new-onset liver failure, who-absent contraindications-warranted thrombolysis. Initial laboratory values, however, revealed an elevated international normalized ratio, which precluded lysis, despite a hypercoagulable Thromboelastogram. We believe that viscoelastic testing of coagulation is essential for evaluating coagulation in liver dysfunction, particularly when considering thrombolysis.
               
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