The Peripheral Venous Heart

Abstract

Pulmonary embolism is now the commonest single cause of death following major surgical procedures. Bell and associates¹reported 51 deaths in 901 patients who had had operations for cancer of the colon or rectum. Eighteen, or about One-third of these deaths, were attributed to pulmonary embolism. Three of the ten deaths in Hughes'²series of 227 combined synchronous abdominal-perineal resections of the rectum were due to pulmonary embolism, and other reports confirm the finding that about one-third of the postoperative deaths in major surgery are a direct result of this distressing complication. We³believe that venous stasis in the lower extremities is the prime factor in venous thrombosis and subsequent pulmonary embolism. This led us to a study of the pump mechanism, or "peripheral venous heart," in the calf muscles with the hope of finding a means to control venous stasis. It is still unsettled whether thrombi arise more commonly