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Pre-eclampsia and acute pulmonary embolism—the importance of making a differential diagnosis: a case report

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Abstract

We describe the case of a 41-year-old pregnant patient who presented at 38 weeks of gestation for an urgent cesarean section, with new onset of pre-eclampsia as the initial diagnosis. The intraoperative course was complicated by seizures and hemodynamic collapse. Initially, the presentation of seizure pointed to pre-eclampsia/eclampsia; however, with careful consideration of each event as it occurred, the correct diagnosis was later determined to be pulmonary embolism and stroke. This case illustrates the importance of considering multiple possible etiologies, even when a particular diagnosis seems obvious.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach Anesthesiology Associates, Inc., 4300 Alton Road, Miami Beach, FL, 33140, USA

    R. Suthar, S. Abdelfattah, H. Goldman, G. Garcia, D. Romero-Fischmann & V. Behrens

  2. San Juan Bautista School of Medicine, San Juan, Puerto Rico

    M. Escobar

Authors
  1. R. Suthar
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  2. S. Abdelfattah
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  3. H. Goldman
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  4. G. Garcia
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  5. D. Romero-Fischmann
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  6. M. Escobar
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  7. V. Behrens
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Contributions

Case review: RS, Vicente Behrens. Literature review: RS. Manuscript preparation: RS, SA, VB, HG, ME, GG, DR-F

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Suthar.

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All authors declared that they have no potential conflict of interest.

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Suthar, R., Abdelfattah, S., Goldman, H. et al. Pre-eclampsia and acute pulmonary embolism—the importance of making a differential diagnosis: a case report. J Anesth 31, 903–906 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00540-017-2396-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00540-017-2396-1

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