Moon Seok-Whan, Jo Keon-Hyeon, Wang Young-Pil, Kim Young-Kyun, Kwon Oo-Kyeong
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Kangnam St. Mary Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-dong, Socho-ku, Seoul, 137-701, South Korea.
Surg Today. 2006;36(3):274-6. doi: 10.1007/s00595-005-3148-7.
Acute massive or submassive pulmonary artery thromboembolism causes sudden hemodynamic deterioration, warranting immediate surgery. We report the case of a 67-year-old woman who suffered a syncopal attack resulting in shock, 3 weeks after undergoing orthopedic surgery. Preoperative radiologic imaging studies, including a lung perfusion scan, chest scan, and venography, showed a major bilateral pulmonary artery embolism (PE) originating from a leg vein. An inferior vena cava filter was inserted preoperatively during the venography. We performed an open pulmonary embolectomy without cardiopulmonary bypass by using a submammary trans-sternal bilateral thoracotomy approach. The patient recovered uneventfully and has been well for 13 months.
