Subacute cor pulmonale due to microscopic pulmonary tumour cell embolization.
A case of a clinically occult ovarian carcinoma leading to subacute cor pulmonale in a 62-year-old woman is described. The patient was admitted to hospital with increasing respiratory distress. Physical examination and echocardiography showed signs of pulmonary hypertension. She died from circulatory failure. Autopsy revealed a bilateral ovarian carcinoma with diffuse carcinosis of the peritoneum. No gross evidence of pulmonary embolism was present, but microscopic investigation revealed tumour-related microangiopathic lesions causing the lethal pulmonary hypertension.
Department of Cardiology, Aalborg Hospital, Denmark.
P
P
Lambert-Jensen
H
H
Mertz
O
O
Nyvad
J H
JH
Christensen
D002277:Carcinoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000556:secondary; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000556:secondary; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology; D011660:Pulmonary Heart Disease / Q000209:etiology*