[Intraoperative pulmonary angioscopy to undergo pulmonary embolectomy for acute massive pulmonary embolism]

An urgent pulmonary embolectomy on a patient under intraoperative angioscopy for the treatment of massive pulmonary embolism was performed and successfully saved the patient. The case was a 19-year-old man who had been bedridden over along period of time. He developed pulmonary embolism immediately after the initiation of walking rehabilitation. Although anticoagulation therapy was immediately carried out, hemodynamics deteriorated, and as a result, it became necessary to treat this patient with the urgent surgical procedure. Under extracorporeal circulation with the clamping of the aorta, the pulmonary artery was opened. Following embolectomy for the left pulmonary artery, the right pulmonary artery, where the presence of clots had not been confirmed with the naked eye, was inspected using an flexible fiberoptic choledochoscope 4.9 mm in diameter. Consequently, amount of clots were removed using forceps or an aspirating tube. The patient recovered from hypoxemia after surgery. The use of intraoperative angioscopy in the pulmonary artery proved to be very useful to examine the presence of emboli up to tertiary branches of pulmonary artery.