Pulmonary endarterectomy for chronic thromboembolic obstruction: recent surgical experience

Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy for chronic pulmonary emboli was performed on ten patients, ages 20 to 67 years, between July 1977 and June 1981. Five patients each were assigned to New York Heart Association functional classes III and IV. All patients had pulmonary hypertension and increased pulmonary vascular resistance. Obstruction beginning in the lobar arteries and involving more than 50% of the sequential arteries was present in all patients. Five patients had complete obstruction of a pulmonary artery. All patients had obstructive disease in both lungs. Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy was performed through central pulmonary arteriotomies and by use of deep hypothermia and circulatory arrest. Circulatory arrest was employed in one to four periods totaling up to 60 minutes. No neurologic deficit was observed. All patients developed reperfusion edema in the lungs. All patients had improvement in pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary vascular resistance. One patient died of lung failure in the late postoperative period. All survivors had improved lung function, with two functional classes in seven patients. Improvement in one equaled three functional classes and in one, by one functional class.