Introduction:

Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is an entity of clinical relevance in patients in settings related to surgical interventions. The mortality rate from this cause has decreased in recent years.

Objective:

To describe the diagnostic and therapeutic management of intermediate risk pulmonary thromboembolism.

Clinical case:

A 62-year-old male patient who was hospitalized for having been operated on for gangrenous appendicitis. In the immediate postoperative period, he begins with symptoms of respiratory distress, complementary tests are performed, including a transthoracic echocardiogram, where McConnell's sign is evident, for which an intermediate-risk pulmonary thromboembolism is diagnosed. The patient undergoes standardized thrombolytic treatment, after which the clinical and echocardiographic parameters evolve towards improvement.

Conclusions:

The diagnosis and treatment of intermediate risk pulmonary thromboembolism in the immediate postoperative period of appendectomy was described. The usefulness of the use of transthoracic Doppler echocardiography was evidenced with the identification of the characteristic signs and the successful application of systemic thrombolysis.

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