Bleeding management in cardiac surgery could be a great challenge for the surgeon and a life-threatening moment for the patient. Despite the fact that recombinant activated factor VII is now widely accepted as a useful adjunct in the management of postcardiotomy coagulopathy, its use in the course of recent thromboembolic event is rarely described.
We hereby present a case of rescue recombinant activated factor VII administration to manage a severe coagulation disorder during surgical pulmonary embolectomy performed under cardiopulmonary bypass.