Pulmonary thrombectomy

In thoracic surgery, a pulmonary thrombectomy, is an emergency procedure that removes clotted blood (thrombus) from the pulmonary arteries.

Mechanical thrombectomies can be surgical (surgical thrombectomy) or percutaneous (percutaneous thrombectomy).^[1]

Surgical thrombectomies were once popular but were abandoned because of poor long-term outcomes. Recently, in selected patients, they have gone through a resurgence with the revision of the surgical technique.^[2]

Relation to PTE

Pulmonary thrombectomies and pulmonary thromboendarterectomies (PTEs) are both operations that remove thrombus. Aside from this similarity they differ in many ways.

• PTEs are done non-emergently whilst pulmonary thrombectomies are typically done as an emergency procedure.
• PTEs typically are done using hypothermia and full cardiac arrest.
• PTEs are done for chronic pulmonary embolism, thrombectomies for severe acute pulmonary embolism.
• PTEs are generally considered a very effective treatment, surgical thrombectomies are an area of some controversy and their effectiveness a matter of some debate in the medical community.

See also

• Pulmonary embolism
• Heart-lung machine

References

1. ^ Casazza F, Roncon L, Greco F. Pulmonary embolism: treatment of the acute episode. Ital Heart J. 2005 Oct;6(10):818-23. PMID 16270473.
2. ^ Augustinos P, Ouriel K. Invasive approaches to treatment of venous thromboembolism. Circulation. 2004 Aug 31;110(9 Suppl 1):I27-34. doi:10.1161/01.CIR.0000140900.64198.f4 PMID 15339878. Free Full Text.