• Alan T Marty, Frank L Hilton, Robert K Spear, and Bruce Greyson.
• Department of Cardiac Surgery, Saint Mary's Medical Center, Evansville, Indiana, and the Department of Psychiatric Medicine, Division of Personality Studies, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. aempmarty@aol.com
• Obstet Gynecol. 2005 Nov 1;106(5 Pt 2):1153-5.

BackgroundSurvival after surgical embolectomy for massive postcesarean pulmonary embolism causing sustained cardiac arrest is rare.CaseOne day after an uneventful cesarean delivery, a woman developed cardiac asystole and apnea due to pulmonary embolism. Femoral-femoral cardiopulmonary bypass performed during continuous cardiopulmonary resuscitation allowed a successful embolectomy. Upon awakening, the patient reported a near-death experience. Pulmonary embolism causes approximately 2 deaths per 100,000 live births per year in the United States, and postcesarean pulmonary embolism is probably more common than pulmonary embolism after vaginal delivery.ConclusionMassive pulmonary embolism is a potentially treatable catastrophic event after cesarean delivery, even if continuous cardiopulmonary resuscitation is required until life-saving embolectomy is done.

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