Thromboendarterectomy in chronic pulmonary thromboembolism

Chronic pulmonary thromboembolic disease in entrapment of thrombus in pulmonary arteries from a single episode or repeated embolic episodes that subsequently organize, or thrombi that develop inside the pulmonary arteries into firm, fibrous tissue that becomes incorporated into the vessel wall. We operated 7 patients with stage chronic pulmonary thromboembolism over a two year period at our center. Four patients had good function class after operation on follow up at 6 to 12 months and we administered warafarin prophylaxis [with international normalized ratio, INR, of 3] for them. Three patients died in hospital postoperatively. We used extracorporeal membrane oxygenation [ECMO] for one of them but it failed on the third postoperative day