Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension mimicking acute pulmonary embolism: a case report

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Abstract

Objective: Rare disease Background: Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a rare form of pulmonary hypertension which is often caused by recurrent emboli. The reported prevalence in Latvia is 15.7 cases per million inhabitants. Several risk factors predispose patients to develop chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, including the presence of chronic myeloproliferative diseases and splenectomy. Case Report: We present a case of a 68-year-old woman with a variant of chronic myeloproliferative disease, essential throm-bocythemia, splenectomy, and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, in whom chronic thromboem-bolic pulmonary hypertension was mimicking acute pulmonary embolism. On admission, the patient had pro-gressive dyspnea, elevated right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) 60-70 mmHg, and elevated thrombocytes, C-reactive protein, BNP, and d-dimer levels. These results, as well as the results of thoracic computed tomog-raphy angiography with contrast, supported the diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism. During the sequent follow-up visit after 3 months of effective anticoagulant therapy, the patient had elevated RVSP: 55-60 mmHg. Therefore, right heart catheterization was performed, in which it was found that mPAP was 37 mmHg with PCWP 5 mm Hg and PVR 8.9 Wood units, confirming the CTEPH diagnosis. Conclusions: Patients who are at high risk of thrombosis need an increased level of monitoring to be properly evaluated. An easy solution to misdiagnosis of CTEPH with an acute pulmonary embolism could be taking scrupulous patient history, which can reveal multiple risk factors of CTEPH development. The subsequent assessment of risk factors can lead to a more appropriate consideration of CTEPH diagnosis vs acute pulmonary embolism.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere933031
JournalAmerican Journal of Case Reports
Volume22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Keywords*

  • Hypertension, pulmonary
  • Pulmonary embolism
  • Splenectomy

Field of Science*

  • 3.2 Clinical medicine

Publication Type*

  • 1.1. Scientific article indexed in Web of Science and/or Scopus database

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