Risk stratification of acute pulmonary embolism based on clinical parameters, H-FABP and multidetector CT

•Risk stratification of normotensive patients with acute pulmonary embolism is recommended.•An external validation of H-FABP for risk assessment was performed in 716 patients.•Complication rate was very low (0.4%) for normal H-FABP and sPESI = 0.•A high complication rate (12.1%) was predicted for elevated H-FABP, sPESI>0 and RVD on MDCT.•H-FABP is a suitable biomarker for risk stratification of normotensive PE patients.