Abstract
We describe a case of pulmonary thromboembolism during spinal surgery. An 80-year-old woman with deep vein thrombus underwent spinal surgery under general anesthesia in the prone position. When the wound was sutured, her blood pressure suddenly decreased and pulseless electrical activity developed, which did not respond to epinephrine. Just after the postural change from the prone position to the spine position, her blood pressure went up. Pulmonary embolism and femoral vein thrombus were revealed by postoperative examination. Anticoagulant therapy with heparin and placement of inferior vena cava filter were performed. We conclude that preoperative thrombolytic therapy might be very important for spinal surgery in the prone position with deep vein thrombus.
