Emergency surgical embolectomy was successfully performed as a salvage procedure in 1 preterm neonate with a saddle pulmonary thromboembolism, representing the first documented preterm survivor.
Case Report (n=1)
This case demonstrates that emergency surgical embolectomy can be a successful, life-saving salvage procedure for massive saddle pulmonary thromboembolism even in preterm neonates.
Symptomatic pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is rare in neonates, and the diagnosis is often made only postmortem. The true incidence is probably underestimated because of its varying presentations, ranging from mild respiratory distress to acute right-heart failure and cardiovascular collapse. We report a sudden cardiorespiratory collapse on day 10 of life in a preterm neonate who was subsequently diagnosed as having a saddle pulmonary embolus. The patient underwent an emergency surgical embolectomy as a salvage procedure. Considering the potentially lethal complications of PTE, neonatologists and pediatricians should maintain a high degree of suspicion in infants with sudden inexplicable deterioration in cardiorespiratory status. Surgical removal of the thrombus is an invasive procedure and potentially carries a high mortality rate. Two term neonatal survivors of surgical intervention have been reported in the medical literature so far. However, we believe that this is the first documented preterm neonatal survivor after surgical intervention for a massive saddle PTE.
Kalaniti et al. (Tue,) conducted a case report in Saddle pulmonary thromboembolism (n=1). Emergency surgical embolectomy was evaluated on Survival. Emergency surgical embolectomy was successfully performed as a salvage procedure in 1 preterm neonate with a saddle pulmonary thromboembolism, representing the first documented preterm survivor.