[Chronic pulmonary artery thrombosis. Therapeutic modality. Apropos of 6 cases]

Six cases of post-embolic chronic cor pulmonale are presented. All six were treated with thrombolytic agents (4 with streptokinase, 2 with urokinase), and in only one case was improvement maintained at the end of one year. Two patients underwent a disobliterative procedure of the pulmonary artery, together with ligation of the inferior vena cava. One of these operations was unsuccessful, and the other had a successful outcome, as confirmed by objective assessment with angiography, scintigraphy and haemodynamic studies. The literature is reviewed at this stage. It was found that the fibrinolytic agents had some chance of working only if the condition was less than a few months old. One major drawback to surgical disobliteration that cannot be foreseen before operation is the presence of thromboses at the arteriolar level in subjects whose main arteries are already blocked proximally. Nervertheless it is possible to obtain good results by surgery, and the operation is worth attempting in young subjects, given the poor prognosis of the untreated condition.