Pulmonary embolectomy re-evaluated.

Forty-two patients who had sustained massive pulmonary embolism were treated by emergency pulmonary embolectomy using normothermic venous inflow occlusion circulatory arrest. Of 26 patients who had not had cardiac arrest before surgery 25 survived the operation, but 7 later died from various causes. Only 1 of 16 patients who had sustained cardiac arrest survived. In all, 19 patients (45.2%) left hospital alive. This simple and widely applicable technique has enabled an emergency pulmonary embolectomy service to be offered to all the hospitals in a metropolitan area.