title: Platypnea-orthodeoxia: a rare complication after repair of a contained rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
abstract: After open repair of a contained rupture of a giant abdominal aortic aneurysm, the patient, a 67-year-old man, developed respiratory insufficiency, and his hemoglobin oxygen saturation dramatically decreased when his position was changed from supine to upright. Transesophageal echocardiography revealed platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome due to a patent foramen ovale and subsequent right-to-left-shunting despite normal intracardiac pressures. After interventional patent foramen ovale closure, the patient could be separated from the respirator without difficulty.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of *Anesthesiology, and †Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Division of Vascular Surgery, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hafner
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Scheerer
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Stahl
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Muehling
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Georgieff
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bracht
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wepler