title: Right-to-left interatrial shunt causing platypnea after pneumonectomy. A recent experience and diagnostic value of dynamic magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mercho
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Stoller
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Mehta
mesh_terms: 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*