Aspirus PERT Team brings specialists together quickly for patients with life-threatening blood clots
2/16/2026
Dr. Sublette, Aspirus Interventional Cardiologist
Shortness of breath and chest pain are symptoms many people dismiss or attribute to everyday causes. In some cases, however, they can signal a pulmonary embolism, a dangerous blood clot that blocks blood flow to the lungs and can cause lasting damage to the heart and lungs if not treated quickly.
Pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood clot, most often formed in the deep veins of the legs, travels to the lungs and becomes lodged in the blood vessels.
“For patients who have intermediate or high-risk pulmonary embolism, pulling the blood clot out of their lungs can help them recover faster,” said Marcus Sublette, MD, interventional cardiologist at Aspirus Health. “It potentially can save lives, but it can also prevent downstream effects of leaving a pulmonary embolism in place.”
Because symptoms often overlap with other common medical conditions, pulmonary embolism is frequently difficult for patients to recognize on their own. Risk factors can include prolonged immobility during long car rides or plane travel, a personal or inherited tendency to form blood clots, cancer, and recent surgery, including orthopedic procedures.
To support rapid, coordinated decision making for patients with intermediate or high risk pulmonary embolism, Aspirus Health uses a Pulmonary Embolism Response Team, also known as PERT. The team brings together specialists from cardiology, critical care, interventional radiology, and hospitalist medicine to review imaging and determine the most appropriate course of treatment.
“Pulmonary embolism is a disease process that overlaps many medical specialties because it affects the heart, the lungs, and the blood vessels,” Sublette said. “It often needs a multidisciplinary group of doctors to figure out the best course of action to get that patient better.”
Treatment may involve blood thinning medications, while some patients benefit from catheter-based procedures to remove the clot more quickly and restore blood flow.
“Blood thinners in really large blood clots take a very long time to dissolve the clot away,” Sublette said. “Over time, that can cause high blood pressures in the lungs, damage to the lung arteries, and sometimes right heart failure, which has a poor prognosis long term.”
Aspirus encourages patients to seek emergency evaluation if they experience significant shortness of breath lasting longer than 24 hours, especially if symptoms are accompanied by chest pain. Emergency departments are best equipped to evaluate these symptoms and identify pulmonary embolism quickly.
Providers at Aspirus Health take pulmonary embolism seriously and work as a coordinated team to ensure patients receive timely, appropriate care.
To learn more about heart and vascular services at Aspirus, visit aspirus.org/heart-vascular-services.
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