Open Surgical Treatment of Acute and Chronic Pulmonary Embolism

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common cause of death and morbidity in the United States and the prevalence of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), a possible sequela of PE, has increased during the past decade. The mainstay treatment of CTEPH is open pulmonary endarterectomy, a procedure performed under hypothermic circulatory arrest, which entails endarterectomy of the branch, segmental and subsegmental pulmonary arteries. Acute PE may be similarly be treated with an open embolectomy in certain select circumstances.