Right-to-left interatrial shunt causing platypnea after pneumonectomy. A recent experience and diagnostic value of dynamic magnetic resonance imaging.
Shortness of breath after pneumonectomy is a common finding that has multiple causes. We report the cases of two patients with shortness of breath on assuming an upright posture (platypnea) that followed pneumonectomy; these individuals developed right-to-left shunt across a patent foramen ovale (PFO) with normal right-sided intracardiac pressures. Both contrast echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including a recently introduced dynamic ultrafast imaging technique, proved helpful in diagnosing this condition noninvasively.
Mercho
N
N
Department of Internal Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Stoller
J K
JK
White
R D
RD
Mehta
A C
AC
D000368:Aged; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000209:etiology*; D006344:Heart Septal Defects, Atrial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D011013:Pneumonectomy; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*