Pulmonary thrombectomy
You don't need to be Editor-In-Chief to add or edit content to WikiDoc. You can begin to add to or edit text on this WikiDoc page by clicking on the edit button at the top of this page. Next enter or edit the information that you would like to appear here. Once you are done editing, scroll down and click the Save page button at the bottom of the page.
Ourielk (talk) 18:15, 31 December 2007 (UTC)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.[1]
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.

