title: Subacute cor pulmonale due to tumor embolism.
abstract: We describe a patient wih subacute cor pulmonale caused by tumor emboli in the lungs. A 64-year-old female suffering from a subacute progressive cough and shortness of breathing died of severe pulmonary hypertension seven days after admission. Neither chest CT scans nor lung perfusion scintigraphy showed any abnormal findings. Microscopic examination after an autopsy revealed diffuse intravascular tumor emboli occluding not only the small pulmonary arteries and arterioles, but also the lymphatic vessels, which were suggested to be metastases of a breast carcinoma resected five years previously. Thus, pulmonary tumor embolism should be considered in the differential diagnosis of primary pulmonary hypertension, particularly in patients with a past history of cancers.
authors.affiliation: Fifth Department of Internal Medicine, Tokyo Medical University, 3-20-1 Chuo Amicho, Inashiki-gun, Ibaraki 300-0395.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sudoh
authors.forename: Hisanaga
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yagyu
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kishi
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oh-ishi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kusama
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology*; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011660:Pulmonary Heart Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000379:methods; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed