You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Case Reports: Learning from unexpected outcome (positive or negative)
Acute neurological deficit with submassive pulmonary emboli
  1. Adam Calthrop,
  2. Asad Shabbir,
  3. Michael Raffles and
  4. Kieran Hogarth
  1. Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, Reading, UK
  1. Correspondence to Adam Calthrop; adam.calthrop{at}nhs.net

Abstract

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is frequently encountered in the emergency department. Syncope, often as a consequence of impending haemodynamic collapse, is associated with increased mortality. While loss of consciousness owing to cerebral hypoperfusion and reduced left ventricular preload is a common cause of collapse with large volume PE, other syndromes can also cause neurological deficit in thromboembolic disease. Here, we describe a case of a woman in her 60s, presenting to the emergency department with features of high-risk PE. During clinical examination, the patient collapsed and became unresponsive with a Glasgow Coma Scale of 4/15 despite normal haemodynamics. Neurological signs were noted and CT revealed evidence of a large territory cerebral infarction. Further cardiovascular investigations identified a grade 4 patent foramen ovale. We describe a challenging case of established venous thromboembolism complicated by paradoxical embolism, highlighting the importance of thorough clinical examination and investigation and discuss the current evidence base of treatments.

  • emergency medicine
  • neuroimaging
  • stroke
  • pulmonary embolism
  • adult intensive care

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2021-247923

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Twitter @TheEMboardround

    • Contributors AC was involved in the management of the patient, planned and conceptualised the case report and wrote the initial manuscript. AS was involved in the management of the patient, interpretation of the echocardiogram and assisted in preparation of the manuscript. MR was involved in the management of the patient and assisted in preparation of the manuscript. KH was involved in the management of the patient, interpretation of the computed tomography imaging and assisted in preparation of the manuscript. All authors contributed both to the care of this patient and the writing process of the manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Case reports provide a valuable learning resource for the scientific community and can indicate areas of interest for future research. They should not be used in isolation to guide treatment choices or public health policy.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.