To Act or Not To Act: Pulmonary Embolism in Post-Op Colon Resection Requiring Reoperation

Results: Eighty-five of 87 patients are cured at long-term follow-up (follow-up: 14 months to 138 months; mean: 42 months), and two patients' therapy is on-going.Complications include one pelvic AVM post-Rx small bleed not requiring transfusion; one pelvic AVM coils eroded into the bladder wall and removed uneventfully via trans-urethra endoscopy; two infections treated with antibiotics; two patients' coils superficially eroded and uneventfully removed; and one patient subcutaneous hematoma removed (7/87 patients; 8% minor complications).Conclusions: Retrograde vein and direct puncture vein access and embolization of AVMs in many anatomic locations have proven curative at long-term follow-up of AVMs with a low complication rate.Reproducible and consistent results of this Yakes retrograde vein technique have been reported only in four publications in the world's literature: first reported by Yakes (1990), Gomes (1994), Jackson (1996), and Cho (2008).In the Yakes AVM Classification System, these approaches can routinely effect AVM cures in Yakes Types I, IIb, IIIa, and IIIb AVMs.