Stucki, Armin; Kruse, Anja; Iff, Samuel; Stanga, Zeno; Cottagnoud, Philippe; Gerber, Peter (2006). A rare cause of fatal right heart failure. European journal of internal medicine, 17(1), pp. 68-70. Roma: Pozzi 10.1016/j.ejim.2005.08.008
Full text not available from this repository.Microscopic pulmonary tumor embolism (MPTE) is an uncommon cause of dyspnea in patients with cancer and one of the most difficult to diagnose. MPTE is a syndrome that is pathologically characterized by the occlusion of small pulmonary arteries and arterioles by aggregates of tumor cells. Because the clinical picture resembles that of thromboembolic disease, it is rarely recognized before death. The most common clinical symptom is subacute progressive dyspnea over weeks to months. We recently observed a case of MPTE of exceptional interest as the patient was under aggressive anticoagulant treatment and developed fulminant pulmonary hypertension with fatal right heart failure.