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Chondrosarcoma presenting as dyspnea in a 19-year-old man: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Acute pulmonary embolism has varied presentations ranging from asymptomatic, incidentally discovered emboli to massive embolism, causing immediate death. Tumor embolism is a rare but unique complication of malignancies. This uncommon catastrophe of a malignant tumor in a young patient,...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chandrasekharan, Rajasekharan, Bhagavaldas, Mithun Chalakarayil, Mathew, Ashish Jacob
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3089794/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21496224
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1752-1947-5-150
Descripción
Sumario:INTRODUCTION: Acute pulmonary embolism has varied presentations ranging from asymptomatic, incidentally discovered emboli to massive embolism, causing immediate death. Tumor embolism is a rare but unique complication of malignancies. This uncommon catastrophe of a malignant tumor in a young patient, culminating as a pulmonary embolism, is being reported for the first time. CASE PRESENTATION: A 19-year-old Asian man presented to the emergency service at our hospital with acute onset dyspnea. His clinical examination led to the suspicion of an acute pulmonary embolism with a lower lumbosacral radiculopathy. A magnetic resonance imaging scan of the pelvis demonstrated a chondrosarcoma arising from the right iliac wing, eroding into the common iliac vein and creeping up the inferior vena cava to lodge in the pulmonary artery, thus producing a saddle embolus. CONCLUSION: The importance of exploring for malignancies in the event of an idiopathic pulmonary embolism is highlighted. Early detection of such malignancies can substantially affect the outcome in young patients.