Postoperative acute pulmonary thromboembolism in patients with acute necrotizing pancreatitis with special reference to apheresis therapy

Eight patients with pancreatic abscesses secondary to acute necrotizing pancreatitis underwent drainage of their abscesses under laparotomy. Two of them died of acute pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) within 1 week. Autopsy revealed a large thrombus at the main trunk of the pulmonary artery and in the left common iliac vein. Femoral catheter insertion/indwelling, immobilization, surgery, increased trypsin/kinin/kallikrein, increased endotoxin, and decreased antithrombin-III (AT-III) were present following drainage of the pancreatic abscesses. With respect to the bedside diagnosis of acute PTE, alveolar-arterial oxygen gradients obtained by blood gas analysis and mean pulmonary artery pressure estimated by pulsed Doppler echocardiography are very useful. In terms of the treatment, attention should be paid to the following to prevent deep venous thrombosis: prophylactic administration of low molecular weight heparin and administration of AT-III (AT-III > or = 80%), use of the subclavian vein whenever possible as blood access for apheresis therapy, as short a compression time as possible after removing the blood access catheter (< or =6 h), and application of intermittent pneumatic compression devices or elastic compression stockings on the lower extremities.