Efficacy and safety of low-dose urokinase for the treatment of hemodynamically stable AECOPD patients with acute pulmonary thromboembolism

PurposeThe aim of this study was to assess the incidence of pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD),and to evaluate the efficacy and safety of low-dose urokinase (UK) thrombolysis therapy when treating hemodynamically stable AECOPD patients with acute PTE (AECOPD-PTE). MethodsA total of 419 AECOPD patients, including 96 AECOPD-PTE, were enrolled. A total of 30 AECOPD-PTE patients were collected retrospectively, and 66 AECOPD-PTE patients were prospectively divided into anticoagulation-only, low-dose UK and standard-dose UK groups. Follow-up 1year, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of low-dose UK therapy for hemodynamically stable AECOPD-PTE patients. ResultsThe incidence of PTE in AECOPD patients was 22.9% (96/419), which increased with COPD severity degree ranging from 3.5% (2/57) in mild, 13.6% (19/140) in moderate and 33.8% (75/222) in severe subgroups (P<.05). In the prospective study, the total effective rate of low-dose UK group 97.2% (35/36) was higher than that in anticoagulation 75.0% (12/16) and standard-dose UK group 78.6% (11/14) respectively (P<.05). In the follow-up, the adverse events rate in low-dose UK group 8.3% (3/36) was significantly lower than that in anticoagulation group 25.0% (4/16) and standard-dose UK group 71.4% (10/14) respectively (P<.05). In addition, the mean PTE recurrence time of low-dose UK group (9.00) months was longer than anticoagulation group (2.0 +/- 1.41) months (P<.05). AECOPD relapse time in anticoagulation, low-dose UK and standard-dose UK groups corresponding to (8.5 +/- 2.12), (9.0 +/- 0) and (8.8 +/- 3.40) months were compared with no significant difference (P>.05). ConclusionsThe incidence of PTE in AECOPD patients was 22.9%, especially with higher occurrence rate in severe COPD. Compared with anticoagulation-only therapy, low-dose UK treatment (500000IU/day for 5-7days) could obtain a better efficacy and safety in hemodynamically stable AECOPD patients with acute PTE, corresponding with a higher effective rate (97.2%) and lower adverse events rate (8.3%) respectively.