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Feb. 19, 2026

2026 AHA/ACC Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Acute Pulmonary Embolism in Adults

A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines

Circulation

The 2026 AHA/ACC multisociety guideline provides comprehensive, de novo recommendations for the evaluation and management of acute pulmonary embolism in adults, covering risk stratification, anticoagulation, thrombolysis, catheter-directed therapy, and long-term follow-up.

Summary

AIMThe “2026 AHA/ACC/ACCP/ACEP/CHEST/SCAI/SHM/SIR/SVM/SVN Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Acute Pulmonary Embolism in Adults” is a de novo guideline that provides comprehensive recommendations for the evaluation, management, and follow-up of adult patients (≥18 years of age) with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). A key feature of this guideline is the introduction of the AHA/ACC Acute Pulmonary Embolism Clinical Categories, which enhance the precision of severity classification, prognosis assessment, and evidence-based therapeutic decision-making.METHODSA comprehensive literature search was conducted from February 2024 to October 2024 to identify clinical studies, reviews, and other evidence conducted on human subjects that were published in English from MEDLINE (through PubMed), EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and other selected databases relevant to this guideline. Select key studies published until April 2025 were added by the gu