Pathophysiology of dyspnoea in acute pulmonary embolism: A cross‐sectional evaluation

ABSTRACT Background and objective Dyspnoea in pulmonary embolism (PE) remains poorly characterized. Little is known about how to measure intensity or about the underlying mechanisms that may be related to ventilatory abnormalities, alveolar dead space ventilation or modulating factors such as psychological modulate. We hypothesized that dyspnoea would mainly be associated with pulmonary vascular obstruction and its pathophysiological consequences, while the sensory‐affective domain of dyspnoea would be influenced by other factors. Methods We undertook a prospective study of 90 consecutive non‐obese patients (mean ± SD age: 49 ± 16 years, 41 women) without cardiorespiratory disease. All patients were hospitalized with symptoms for