Treatment Difficulties in High Risk Pulmonary Embolism. A Case Report

Abstract

Pulmonary embolism (PE) remains a common and potentially life-threatening cardiovascular emergency. Systemic thrombolysis with intravenous infusion of a thrombolytic agent is generally recommended for treatment of high risk PE. However, this method has known limitations in the presence of high bleeding risk. Catheter-directed thrombolysis has the potential to achieve the same benefits as systemic thrombolysis, with a lower risk of haemorrhage. The case presented is of a 67-year-old male patient with a high risk of pulmonary embolism and contraindications for systemic thrombolysis, in whom the presence of severe comorbidities presented an increased risk of surgical embolectomy, who was successfully treated by catheter-directed thrombolysis.

Keywords

• pulmonary embolism
• thrombolysis
• embolectomy