Treatment of Pulmonary Embolic Diseases
Treatment of CTEPH is not always necessary and depends upon a variety of factors including the location and severity of the blockage. Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE), the surgical procedure used to treat CTEPH, restores blood flow through the lungs by means of surgical removal of accumulated clots and material from the pulmonary arteries.
The procedure involves "open-heart" surgery so that the surgeon may view the pulmonary arteries, which connect the lungs to the heart. In order to achieve this, the patient is connected to the heart-lung bypass machine, which mimics the actions of the heart and lungs, oxygenating the blood and pumping it throughout the body. The heart is stopped to control the blood flow to the heart and lungs.
The patient's body is cooled significantly, reducing the need for oxygen, with the purpose of allowing surgeons to halt the bypass machine periodically to view the vessels they are clearing. Bit by bit they gently loosen the clots and remove them. Clots may be as long as 10 inches, extending from the main arteries into the smaller arteries of the lung.
