A case report of an acute postoperative pulmonary thromboembolism

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a disease that can lead to sudden cardiac death and in many patients, PE is the result of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Surgical interventions are a significant risk factor for VTE and are the most common cause of immediate postoperative death. The paper presents a case report of a diagnosis and treatment algorithm applied in a patient who developed acute, pulmonary thromboembolism in an early, postoperative course. An acute, pulmonary thromboembolism has been diagnosed using modern diagnostic tools, according to the recommendations of the European Association of Cardiologists 2019 for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with pulmonary thromboembolism. In the acute phase in our patient, thrombotic masses in the right heart chambers were verified, fibrinolytic therapy with satisfactory therapeutic effect and no side effects was applied. The prognostic evaluation, which is also important in the further evaluation of the patient, was performed at the same time as the diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism and risk stratification based on the most common scoring system - the PESI index.