Surgical treatment and anticoagulant therapy for liver injury due to cardiopulmonary resuscitation with lethal pulmonary embolization: A case report.

INTRODUCTION: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can sometimes induce organ injury, however, such an occurrence is rare. We herein report a case of liver injury due to CPR with life-threatening pulmonary embolization (PE) that required the patient to undergo surgical hemostasis and antithrombotic therapy.

PRESENTATION OF CASE: A woman in her 70s fell off her bicycle. She suffered cardiopulmonary arrest and underwent CPR. She was diagnosed with PE and underwent catheter treatment and anticoagulant therapy; however, her blood pressure did not increase. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography revealed injury to the liver and inferior phrenic artery. Hemostasis could not be completely achieved by transcatheter arterial embolization alone. She was therefore transferred to our hospital and underwent damage control surgery (DCS). Definitive surgery (DS) performed 33 h after DCS showed right hepatic subcapsular hematoma and left hepatic subcapsular hematoma. We cut away the capsules and removed the hematomas. There were lacerations and oozing under the capsule in the left lobe. We sutured the laceration. At 72 h after undergoing DS, antithrombotic therapy was started. On day 19, the patient was discharged home by herself without any neurological damage.

DISCUSSION: For a case of liver injury due to CPR with life-threatening PE, treatment with both hemostasis and antithrombotic therapy should be performed. Antithrombotic therapy was started appropriately in this case by accurately identifying the liver laceration and suturing it.

CONCLUSION: Hemostasis following both DCS and DS with appropriate anticoagulant therapy was effective for the management of liver injury due to CPR with life-threatening PE.