Background: Thrombo-embolism following pulmonary resection is a serious complication with a fatal outcome. We have tried to clarify the role of ligature techniques used in pulmonary resection on the formation of pulmonary artery stump thrombosis, which may lead to a subsequent pulmonary thrombo-embolism.
Material and methods: Two groups of 10 mongrel dogs underwent a standard left pneumonectomy under anesthesia. The transfixation, or the continuous ligature technique, was applied to close the pulmonary artery stump in each group. Morphological evaluation of the ligated pulmonary artery was carried out, including the macroscopic thrombus formation and microscopic findings.
Results: The transfixation ligature technique showed a significantly greater incidence of macroscopic thrombosis in the pulmonary artery stump when compared with the continuous ligature technique (p = 0.033). This was confirmed by microscopic changes (p = 0.020).
Conclusion: Thrombus formation in the pulmonary artery stump is more likely to occur following the closure of the stump with the transfixation ligature technique compared with the continuous ligature technique.