Pulmonary thrombectomy
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
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
References
- ↑ Casazza F, Roncon L, Greco F. Pulmonary embolism: treatment of the acute episode. Ital Heart J. 2005 Oct;6(10):818-23. PMID 16270473.
- ↑ Augustinos P, Ouriel K. Invasive approaches to treatment of venous thromboembolism. Circulation. 2004 Aug 31;110(9 Suppl 1):I27-34. PMID 15339878. Free Full Text.