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Massive Pulmonary Embolism With Hemodynamic Compromise Successfully Treated With Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, B. Akkanti, S. Nathan, E. N. Centeno, K. Akasapu, P. Doshi, R. Hussain, F. Raissi, A. Nascimbene, R. Srinivasan, I. Rajapreyar, M. Patel, J. Patel, M. Akay, P. Loyalka, B. Kar, I. Gregoric

The VAD Journal

Introduction: Cardiogenic shock that results from pulmonary embolus has a high mortality rate. Systemic thrombolysis is frequently used in submassive and massive pulmonary embolus and has been shown to restore circulation. However, in the event of impending or ongoing cardiac arrest, systemic thrombolysis or anticoagulation alone has not been always shown to be effective. Case reports have previously established that extracorporeal membrane oxygenation can effectively be used as an effective rescue strategy in cases of cardiac arrest as a result from massive pulmonary embolus. We report six cases of massive pulmonary embolism (PE), in which veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA …