Surgical pulmonary embolectomy in a multi-trauma patient: One-center experience in the resource-limited setting

Pulmonary embolism, a serious complication after trauma, may cause sudden death. We discuss an unusual case of 65-year-old woman who had traffic accident with liver injury and open fracture of both tibia and fibula on the right side. She was diagnosed with massive pulmonary embolism on the second day after accident and successfully underwent emergency surgical embolectomy from bilateral pulmonary arteries. There were no postoperative complications. The patient's good state of health was recorded after 13 months of surgery. Surgical pulmonary embolectomy for such a multi-trauma patient provides valuable experience not only for our institution but also for the countries having similar resource-limited conditions.