Considerations on venous thrombectomy.

From the Clinic of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. We are all aware of the problems that arise from deep venous thrombosis: pulmonary embolism, invalidating postphlebitic syndromes a real social problem in the chronic stage, and loss of life and limb in the acute phase. Prevention of thrombosis is to be aimed at by all means. When venous thrombosis is established, all the therapeutic measures have to be applied: anticoagulation, elevation, and bandaging to avoid the above-mentioned complications. But the conservative methods alone cannot achieve the real goal of therapy. That goal is to reopen the main venous channels and thus to restore unimpeded venous backflow. Disobliteration of the obstructed veins can only be achieved by fibrinolysis or surgical thrombectomy, and therefore we favor