Early Exercise-Based Rehabilitation in Patients Hospitalized for Acute Pulmonary Embolism

Up to half of patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) suffer from impaired quality of life, reduced physical capacity, and symptoms like shortness of breath even three months after diagnosis, despite standard treatment with anticoagulation (blood thinners). The randomized RehabPE trial investigates whether an early, structured rehabilitation program with physical training and patient education can prevent such long-term effects. The study includes hospitalized patients with acute symptomatic PE who are at increased risk of impaired quality of life three months after diagnosis. After informed consent, patients are randomly assigned to one of two groups: one receives an early 6-8-week, center-based rehabilitation program; the other receives standard follow-up care without rehabilitation. The intervention group completes 16-18 outpatient sessions of endurance and strength training, along with two education sessions covering the condition, treatment, and symptom management. Over 180 days, changes in quality of life, physical exercise capacity, breathlessness, and psychological symptoms, and the time to return to work / usual daily activities will be monitored and compared between groups.

NCT Number	NCT07143539
Lead Sponsor	Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern
Conditions	Venous Thromboembolism (VTE), Exercise Therapy, Quality of Life (QOL), Anxiety Depression, Humans, Exercise Tolerance, Rehabilitation Exercise, Dyspnea +2 more
Enrollment	160 participants
Start Date	2025-12-17
Primary Completion	2028-03 (estimated)
Study Completion	2028-06 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-06-12