Intraoperative massive pulmonary embolism during coronary artery bypass grafting

Abstract

A 66-year-old female underwent elective coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Massive pulmonary embolism developed intraoperatively shortly after weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass. A 25-cm large venous embolus was extracted from pulmonary artery by consequently performed open pulmonary embolectomy on the beating heart. Source of extracted embolus was not postoperatively revealed. Patient remained angina-free and with no evidence of pulmonary hypertension at the 6-month follow-up. © 2005 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.