BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension secondary to chronic thromboembolism is a severe and debilitating disease and has been associated with high mortality. Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy is the treatment of choice. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of pulmonary thromboendarterectomy on the quality of life of patients with pulmonary hypertension secondary to chronic thromboembolism using the SF-36 Health Survey. METHOD: The SF-36 Health Survey questionnaire was administered to 13 patients prior to and at least 3 months following thromboendarterectomy. RESULTS: Of the 13 patients studied, 7 were female and 6 were male. Mean age was 45.7 ± 18.3. All were submitted to thromboendarterectomy. After surgery, all SF-36 domains, with the exception of the "mental health" domain, improved. CONCLUSION: Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy provides significant improvement in patient quality of life.
Hypertension pulmonary; Pulmonary embolism; Endarterectomy; Quality of life
