Heart transplantation after successful donor postpartum pulmonary embolectomy.
A fulminant pulmonary embolism can be treated surgically if thrombolytic therapy is contraindicated. A 31-year-old woman developed a fulminant pulmonary embolism after right-sided deep venous thrombosis 1 day after undergoing a cesarean section. A pulmonary embolectomy with cardiopulmonary bypass was performed, but the patient was brain-dead. After 2 days of echocardiographic observation, her heart was explanted for a 61-year-old man with ischemic cardiomyopathy. His right heart data were unremarkable, and he remains well 16 months after transplantation. Despite the sudden strain on the right ventricle that occurs with a pulmonary embolism, such a heart may be transplanted successfully after a pulmonary embolectomy.
Aleksic
I
I
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany. ialeksi@gwdg.de
Baryalei
M M
MM
Schorn
B
B
Busch
T
T
Strauch
J
J
Weyland
A
A
Dalichau
H
H
D000328:Adult; D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000009:adverse effects; D017128:Embolectomy; D005260:Female; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D014019:Tissue Donors; D018497:Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / Q000503:physiopathology