Background Although extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been used for the treatment of acute high-risk pulmonary embolism (PE), there are limited reports which focus on this approach. Herein, we described our experience with ECMO in patients with acute high-risk PE.
Methods We retrospectively reviewed medical records of patients diagnosed with acute highrisk PE and treated with ECMO between January 2014 and December 2018.
Results Among 16 patients included, median age was 51 years (interquartile range [IQR], 38 to 71 years) and six (37.5%) were male. Cardiac arrest was occurred in 12 (75.0%) including two cases of out-of-hospital arrest. All patients underwent veno-arterial ECMO and median ECMO duration was 1.5 days (IQR, 0.0 to 4.5 days). Systemic thrombolysis and surgical embolectomy were performed in seven (43.8%) and nine (56.3%) patients, respectively including three patients (18.8%) received both treatments. Overall 30-day mortality rate was 43.8% (95% confidence interval, 23.1% to 66.8%) and 30-day mortality rates according to the treatment groups were ECMO alone (33.3%, n=3), ECMO with thrombolysis (50.0%, n=4) and ECMO with embolectomy (44.4%, n=9).
Conclusions Despite the vigorous treatment efforts, patients with acute high-risk PE were related to substantial morbidity and mortality. We report our experience of ECMO as rescue therapy for refractory shock or cardiac arrest in patients with PE.
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A 41-year-old female underwent an uneventful cesarean section, which was followed by a pulmonary saddle embolism complicated by cardiac arrest. This case shows that successful embolectomy is possible, despite a potentially lethal pulmonary saddle embolism, 34 cm in length, and intra-operative cardiopulmonary resuscitation. We report our case and discuss the anesthetic considerations based on the literature.
BACKGROUND Patients with pulmonary embolism are at high risk of death because of right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) and mortality rate increases with worsening right ventricular dysfuction. The utility of N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) testing in the emergency department for diagnosing right ventricular dysfunction with pulmonary embolism and optimal cut-off points for its uses are not well established. METHODS Forty-nine consecutive patients with confirmed pulmonary embolism, who visited our emergency medical center from March 2005 to September 2006, were recruited. Patients with congestive heart failure and chronic renal failure were excluded from study enrollment. The diagnosis of right ventricular dysfunction was based on echocardiographic evidence of right ventricular dysfunction. RESULTS The mean age was 68+/-11 yr, and 71% of the patients were women. The median NT-proBNP level among 29 patients (59%) who had RVD was 1296 versus 250 pg/ml for those 20 patients (41%) who did not have RVD (p=0.01). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.94 (95% CI of 0.89~0.98). At a cutoff of 400 pg/ml, NT-proBNP had a sensitivity of 97%, a specificity of 75%, and an overall accuracy of 88% for RVD (p=0.01). An NT-proBNP level <400 pg/ml was optimal for ruling out RVD, which was a negative predictive value of 94%. Increased NT- proBNP was the strong independent predictor of RVD (odds ratio 13, 95% CI 4.3-39.0, p=0.01). CONCLUSIONS NT-proBNP levels are frequently increased in patients with pulmonary embolism who have RVD than who did not have RVD. In acute pulmonary embolism, NT-proBNP elevation is highly predictive of RVD.
Pulmonary embolism is a common medical complication following major orthopedic procedures of the lower extremities and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality.
However, the clinical manifestations of pulmonary embolism are nonspecific and it may be difficult to diagnose. An 82 years old female with severe restrictive pulmonary disease received the elective operation for the fracture of left femur neck under combined spinal-epidural anesthesia. During the operation, we sometimes gave her oxygen via face mask and maintained oxygen saturation of more than 80% which was measured by a pulse oxymeter. The operation and anesthesia was performed uneventfully. On the seventh postoperative day, she showed tachycardia suddenly and cardiac arrest later on the electrocardiogram. After cardiopulmonary resuscitation, she was transferred to intensive care unit and checked by a computed tomography and echocardiography.
She was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis and treated with heparin and urokinase. But she did not improve and died.
Pulmonary embolism is a common medical complication following major orthopedic procedures of the lower extremities and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality.
However, the clinical manifestations of pulmonary embolism are nonspecific and its diagnosis may be difficult. In this case, we detected the pulmonary embolism after induction of the general anesthesia for operation of tibiofibular fracture. The patient has undergone operation for hemoperitoneum 19 days ago. The nonspecific cardiopulmonary symptoms occuring from minor pulmonary embolism should be sought during the preoperative anesthetic evaluation of patients at high risk for pulmonary embolism.