OBJECTIVE Massive pulmonary embolism is relatively rare but a potentially life-threatening condition. The purpose of this study was to analyse the outcome of pulmonary embolectomy in registered data from the Japanese Society of Pulmonary Embolism Research (JaSPER). METHODS From 1994 to 2006, 1661 cases of acute pulmonary embolism were registered in the JaSPER database. Retrospective analysis ...

Untreated massive pulmonary embolism is associated with a high mortality. Pulmonary embolectomy has been largely superceded by thrombolytic therapy, but there are cases in which pulmonary embolectomy remains the treatment of choice. We present three case reports and discuss the merits of the various treatments available for massive pulmonary embolism. The primary treatment of massive pulmonary ...

Acute massive pulmonary embolism has a high mortality rate despite advances in diagnosis and therapy. Thrombolysis and catheter embolectomy have recently shown various degrees of failure and adverse effect. Surgical embolectomy has now been liberalised for haemodynamic stable patients with right ventricular dysfunction. We report our surgical experience in the last ten years including massive a...

BACKGROUND Survival after surgical embolectomy for massive postcesarean pulmonary embolism causing sustained cardiac arrest is rare. CASE One day after an uneventful cesarean delivery, a woman developed cardiac asystole and apnea due to pulmonary embolism. Femoral-femoral cardiopulmonary bypass performed during continuous cardiopulmonary resuscitation allowed a successful embolectomy. Upon aw...

Acute massive pulmonary embolism is a life threatening medical emergency resulting in a high mortality rate. Usually, urgent thrombo-embolectomy is performed using double venous cannulation without circulatory arrest. We describe a patient suffering from acute massive pulmonary embolism that was treated by emergency thrombo-embolectomy. Due to back-bleeding the view into the lobar and segmental...

Pulmonary embolism is a common clinical condition associated with high mortality. Surgical pulmonary embolectomy (SPE), despite having been in existence for over 100 years, is generally regarded as an option of last resort with high mortality rates. Prompt recognition of predictors of mortality, such as right ventricular stress on echocardiography, helps decision-making for immediate surgical p...

The antegrade stented (frozen) elephant trunk procedure and pulmonary embolectomy are complex cardiac surgical operations for extensive aortic and pulmonary arterial disease, respectively. We report the first known case of concomitant antegrade stented elephant trunk and pulmonary embolectomy in order to highlight pre- and intra-operative management strategies for this uncommon disease combinat...