[Sudden death due to massive pulmonary thromboembolism after pneumonectomy; report of a case]

A 76-year-old woman underwent a left pneumonectomy for a primary adenocarcinoma. On the fourth postoperative day, when walking to the toilet, she suddenly developed syncope followed by dyspnea and cardiopulmonary arrest. Although we performed cardiopulmonary resusciation, she died 1 hour later. With her family's approval, we performed autopsy. We found massive pulmonary thromboembolism was identified in the right main artery. To prevent postoperative thromboembolic complications, we use postoperatively continuous intravenous heparin sodium infusion (5,000-6,000/24 h) for the patients underwent thoracotomy and examine the ultrasonography for deep vein thrombosis before they begin to walk.