Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is a serious cause of morbidity and mortality after surgery. Since most deaths occur within the first hour of patients, rapid thrombolytic treatment is lifesaving. In this article, a patient who was administered systemic thrombolytic therapy due to PTE after head and neck surgery was discussed. No additional prophylaxis was applied to the patient except for early ambulation. Since PTE has caused hemodynamic instability in the patient, systemic thrombolytics was administered, the PTE was successfully treated but a second surgical intervention was performed to control the bleeding from the surgical site. Systemic thrombolysis for treatment of PTE in otolaryngology surgery patients may be necessary but the morbidity of the bleeding in the surgical site should be considered.
Key words: Head and neck surgery, pulmonary thromboembolism, systemic thrombolysis
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