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Imminent Pulmonary Embolism: A Fatal Mobile Right Atrial Thrombus

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Abstract

Right sided heart thrombi are infrequent and if they are mobile they may cause serious morbidity and mortality due to massive pulmonary embolism or paradoxical embolism. Malignancies are one of the important etiological factors for right heart thrombi. A patient with operated but recurrent ovarian carcinoma, presented with symptoms of heart failure was admitted to oncology department. Rapidly progressing dyspnea and a pre-syncope attack required consultation of a cardiologist and echocardiography revealed a mobile thrombus in the right atrium. Urgent open heart surgery was decided but imminent massive pulmonary embolism complicated the case leading to irreversible cardiogenic shock. By means of the presented case this paper overviews etiological factors and treatment options for right sided heart thrombi.

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Abbreviations

PE:

pulmonary embolism

TEE:

transoesophageal echocardiography

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kardiyoloji Anabilim Dalı Sekreterligi, Akdeniz Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, 07070, Antalya, Turkey

    Ibrahim Basarici, Huseyin Yilmaz, Ibrahim Demir & Selim Yalcinkaya

Authors
  1. Ibrahim Basarici
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  2. Huseyin Yilmaz
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  3. Ibrahim Demir
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  4. Selim Yalcinkaya
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Correspondence to Ibrahim Basarici.

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Basarici, I., Yilmaz, H., Demir, I. et al. Imminent Pulmonary Embolism: A Fatal Mobile Right Atrial Thrombus. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging 22, 55–58 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-005-7438-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-005-7438-3

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