New Multisociety Guideline Uses Five Acute PE Categories to Guide Care

A new joint ACC/AHA/peer-society guideline for evaluating and managing acute pulmonary embolism in adults introduces five Acute PE Clinical Categories (A–E) to stratify severity and guide therapy across emergency, inpatient, and post-acute settings. It recommends low-molecular-weight heparin over unfractionated heparin for initial anticoagulation, favors direct oral anticoagulants over vitamin K antagonists when appropriate, and supports continuing anticoagulation beyond 3–6 months for selected patients; it also emphasizes PE response teams (PERTs) and notes future evidence gaps.