72-year-old woman with dyspnoea and pulmonary artery filling defects on CT angiogram

Wei Qin, pulmonologist and pulmonary vascular interventional radiology specialist A 72-year-old female patient was admitted because of dyspnoea and continuous cough lasting 5 months. She denied fever, chest pain and gastrointestinal symptom. She had undergone successful coronary stent implantation and percutaneous closure of the atrial septal defect 8 years ago. There was no history of venous thromboembolism, cancer, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, asthma, allergic rhinitis or other allergies.At presentation, the patient’s temperature was 36.7 ℃ with a heart rate of 74 bpm, blood pressure of 110/60 mm Hg, respiratory rate of 21 bpm and oxygen saturation of 89% on room air. Chest auscultation revealed no abnormal findings, no wheezes and no moist rales. Cardiac examination revealed regular rhythm without murmur; there was no oedema and varicosities in both lower extremities. Ziyang Zhu, pulmonologist and pulmonary vascular interventional radiology specialist D-dimer levels were normal on admission. Thrombophilia-related indicators, including...
Source: Thorax - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Open access, Thorax Case based discussion Source Type: research