Dissecting aortic aneurysm mimicking massive pulmonary embolism.
The finding of a massive unilateral segmental defect with normal ventilation upon lung scanning does not always secure the diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolus. We present a patient whose ventilation-perfusion lung scan suggested a significant embolic phenomenon, but who was subsequently found to have compression of her right pulmonary artery by a dissecting aortic aneurysm. Conditions that present with a unilateral perfusion defect merit further evaluation with pulmonary arteriography.
Ossorio
M A
MA
Division of Respiratory and Environmental Medicine, University of Louisville School of Medicine, KY 40292.
O'Grady
S A
SA
Roy
T M
TM
Fields
C L
CL
D000328:Adult; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000473:pathology; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis*