Pulmonary thrombectomy
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2008-01-24T05:36:18Z
Michael Devore
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In [[thoracic surgery]], a '''pulmonary thrombectomy''', is an [[emergency procedure]] that removes [[blood clot|clotted]] [[blood]] ([[thrombus]]) from the [[pulmonary artery|pulmonary arteries]].
Mechanical thrombectomies can be surgical (surgical thrombectomy) or percutaneous (percutaneous thrombectomy).<ref>Casazza F, Roncon L, Greco F. Pulmonary embolism: treatment of the acute episode. Ital Heart J. 2005 Oct;6(10):818-23. PMID 16270473.</ref>
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.<ref>Augustinos P, Ouriel K. Invasive approaches to treatment of venous thromboembolism. Circulation. 2004 Aug 31;110(9 Suppl 1):I27-34. PMID 15339878. [http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/110/9_suppl_1/I-27 Free Full Text].</ref>
==Relation to PTE==
Pulmonary thrombectomies and [[pulmonary thromboendarterectomy|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==
*[[Pulmonary embolism]]
*[[Heart-lung machine]]
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Thoracic surgery]]
[[Category:Surgical procedures]]
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