High-Risk Pulmonary Embolism: Embolectomy and Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation.

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common medical condition associated with significant morbidity and mortality. It is the third most common cause of death in the United States. Historically, surgery for PE was associated with a high mortality rate, and this led to a significant decrease in the volume of operations being performed. However, significant improvements in patient selection and outcomes for surgical pulmonary embolectomy (SPE) at the end of the 20th century led to a renewed interest in the procedure. SPE was historically reserved for patients presenting with acute PE and hemodynamic collapse or cardiac arrest. Contemporary data has provided sufficient evidence to support earlier intervention for patients with acute PE who demonstrate clinical, laboratory, and echocardiographic signs of right ventricular dysfunction. Institutions with cardiac surgery capabilities are implementing SPE earlier for the management of both massive and submassive PEs with excellent short-term and long-term outcomes. Recently, venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) has been employed successfully to treat patients with massive PE. Excellent short-term outcomes have been reported for patients suffering from PE after treatment with VA-ECMO. Further research, specifically with randomized controlled trials, is needed to determine the appropriate timing and patient selection for the use of VA-ECMO in patients with PE. These data would lead to updated guidelines and algorithms incorporating VA-ECMO and SPE for patients with PE.

Characteristics and intraoperative treatments associated with head and neck free tissue transfer complications and failures.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between perioperative patient characteristics and treatment modalities (eg, vasopressor use and volume of fluid administration) with complications and failure rates in patients undergoing head and neck free tissue transfer (FTT). STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective review of medical records. SETTING: Perioperative hospitalization for head and neck FTT at 1 tertiary care medical center between January 1, 2009, and October 31, 2011. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Consecutive patients (N=235) who underwent head and neck FTT. Demographic, patient characteristic, and intraoperative data were extracted from medical records. Complication and failure rates within the first 30 days were collected RESULTS: In a multivariate analysis controlling for age, sex, ethnicity, reason for receiving flap, and type and volume of fluid given, perioperative complication was significantly associated with surgical blood loss (P=.019; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.16), while the rate of intraoperative fluid administration did not reach statistical significance (P=.06; 95% CI, 0.99-1.28). In a univariate analysis, FTT failure was significantly associated with reason for surgery (odds ratio, 5.40; P=.03; 95% CI, 1.69-17.3) and preoperative diagnosis of coronary artery disease (odds ratio, 3.60; P=.03; 95% CI, 1.16-11.2). Intraoperative vasopressor administration was not associated with either FTT complication or failure rate. CONCLUSIONS: FTT complications were associated with surgical blood loss but not the use of vasoactive drugs. For patients undergoing FTT, judicious monitoring of blood loss may help stratify the risk of complication and failure.