Dear Editor,
We appreciate the interest of Yildirim et al. in our paper “Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Patients with Prior Pulmonary Thromboembolism” [1]. We agree with their comments regarding the beneficial use of imaging parameters for the evaluation of right ventricular functions following an episode of pulmonary thromboembolism. However, our data was obtained through reviewing the medical records of the patients, and the relationship between routine echocardiographic measurements and subclinical atherosclerosis was shown. We recommend that further prospective studies should investigate this association using more detailed echocardiographic and inflammatory parameters to determine right ventricular functions.
References
- 1.Buyukterzi Z, Buyukterzi M, Kurtipek E, et al. Subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with prior pulmonary thromboembolism. Med Princ Prac. 2017;26:321–324. doi: 10.1159/000475466. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]