Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Clin Cases. Jun 26, 2026; 14(18): 120219
Published online Jun 26, 2026. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.120219
Published online Jun 26, 2026. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.120219
From anticoagulation to intervention: The expanding role of percutaneous therapies in pulmonary embolism
George Latsios, Nikolaos Ktenopoulos, Leonidas Koliastasis, Anastasios Apostolos, Ioannis Kachrimanidis, Panayotis K Vlachakis, Elias Tolis, Vasileios Mantziaris, Evaggelia Stroumpouli, Sotirios Tsalamandris, Maria Drakopoulou, Andreas Synetos, Konstantinos Tsioufis, Konstantinos Toutouzas, First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Hippokration General Hospital of Athens, Athens 11527, Greece
Leonidas Koliastasis, Department of Cardiology, Lefkos Stavros Clinic, Athens 11527, Greece
Anastasios Apostolos, Department of Cardiology, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Harefield Hospital, London UB9 6JH, United Kingdom
Evaggelia Stroumpouli, Department of Radiology, Hippokration General Hospital of Athens, Athens 11527, Greece
Co-first authors: George Latsios and Nikolaos Ktenopoulos.
Author contributions: Latsios G, Ktenopoulos N, Koliastasis L, Apostolos A, Kachrimanidis I, Vlachakis PK, Tolis E, Mantziaris V, Stroumpouli E, Tsalamandris S, Drakopoulou M, Synetos A, Tsioufis K, Toutouzas K contributed to writing - review and editing; Latsios G, Ktenopoulos N, Koliastasis L, Apostolos A, Kachrimanidis I, Vlachakis PK, Tolis E, Mantziaris V, Stroumpouli E, Tsalamandris S, Drakopoulou M, and Synetos A contributed to investigation; Latsios G, Ktenopoulos N, Koliastasis L, Apostolos A, and Toutouzas K contributed to methodology; Latsios G, Ktenopoulos N, and Toutouzas K contributed to conceptualization, writing-original draft preparation; Latsios G, Tsioufis K, and Toutouzas K contributed to supervision; Ktenopoulos N, Koliastasis L, Apostolos A, Kachrimanidis I, and Stroumpouli E contributed to data curation; Latsios G and Ktenopoulos N contributed equally to this work and are co-first authors. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
AI contribution statement: The authors take full responsibility for the content of this manuscript. ChatGPT (OpenAI) was used only for language refinement and readability editing. All AI-assisted outputs were reviewed and approved by the authors and AI was not used to generate data, perform analyses or draw conclusions.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Corresponding author: George Latsios, MD, First Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Hippokration General Hospital of Athens, Alexandroup
Received: February 24, 2026
Revised: March 18, 2026
Accepted: May 22, 2026
Published online: June 26, 2026
Processing time: 115 Days and 21.6 Hours
Revised: March 18, 2026
Accepted: May 22, 2026
Published online: June 26, 2026
Processing time: 115 Days and 21.6 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Pulmonary embolism remains a leading cause of cardiovascular mortality, and optimal management, particularly in intermediate-risk and high-risk patients, continues to evolve. This review critically appraises the expanding role of percutaneous catheter-based therapies, including catheter-directed thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy, as alternatives or adjuncts to systemic thrombolysis and anticoagulation. We synthesize contemporary randomized and registry data, discuss patient selection and procedural strategy and examine the emerging concept of a “primary percutaneous pulmonary intervention” approach as a potential paradigm shift in acute pulmonary embolism care.