title: [Right heart failure due to pulmonary tumor microembolism -- a rare differential diagnosis].
abstract: A 69-year-old man presented with progressive dyspnea, hemoptysis and fatigue for the previous 4 weeks. Chest radiograph and CT-scan were suggestive of lung cancer. The patient's condition worsened and within in few days he developed respiratory failure and acute cor pulmonale. Despite intensive care measures directed at suspected lung thromboembolism, the patient died on day 12. Autopsy revealed disseminated obstruction of small pulmonary arteries by microscopic tumor emboli. No signs of venous thromboembolism were found. Pulmonary tumor microembolism should be considered whenever a patient with malignancy presents with unexplained progressive dyspnea or pulmonary hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Krankenhaus Grosshansdorf, Zentrum für Pneumologie und Thoraxchirurgie, Grosshansdorf.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Galle
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Welker
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kanzow
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D011859:Radiography