Pulmonary thrombectomy explained

A pulmonary thrombectomy is an emergency surgical procedure used to remove blood clots 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 on a nonemergency basis while 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 . Oct 2005 . Pulmonary embolism: treatment of the acute episode . Ital Heart J. . 6 . 10. 818–23 . 16270473 .
2. Augustinos P, Ouriel K . 2004 . Invasive approaches to treatment of venous thromboembolism . Circulation . 110 . 9 Suppl 1. I27–34 . 10.1161/01.CIR.0000140900.64198.f4 . 15339878. free .