Experience with pulmonary endarterectomy: Lessons learned across 17 years

Abstract

Background Pulmonary endarterectomy is potential curative therapy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension patients. Here, we present our experience with pulmonary endarterectomy spanning 17 years and detail our management strategy. Methods This is a single-centre retrospective study conducted on chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension patients who underwent pulmonary endarterectomy at our centre across 17 years. Results Between 2004 and 2020, 591 patients underwent pulmonary endarterectomy. Amongst them 429 (72.4%) were males with a male to female ratio of 2.6:1, the median age was 38 (range, 14–73) years. The median length of hospital stay was 11 days (IQR, 8–16). Extra corporeal membranous oxygenation was used in 82 (13.9%) patients during/after surgery, out of whom 28 (34.1%) survived. There were 70 (11.8%) in-hospital deaths. Female gender ( p < 0.01), pulmonary artery systolic pressure >100 mmHg ( p < 0.05) and use of extra corporeal membrane oxygenation ( p < 0.001) were significant risk factors for in-hospital mortality. The mortality in the first period (2004–2012) was 15.7% which reduced to 9.1% in the later period (2013–2020). The reduction in mortality rate was 42% ( p < 0.05). Following pulmonary endarterectomy, there was a significant reduction in pulmonary artery systolic pressure (86.68 ± 24.38 vs. 39.71 ± 13.13 mmHg; p < 0.001) and improvement in median walk distance as measured by 6-min walk test on follow-up (300 vs. 450 meters; p < 0.001). The median duration of follow-up was 8 months (inter-quartile range: 2–24). Conclusions pulmonary endarterectomy has a learning curve, high pulmonary vascular resistance alone is not a contraindication for surgery. Patients following surgery have improved survival and quality of life.