You are here

  • Home
  • Archive
  • Volume 24, Issue 6
  • Paradoxical embolus illustrating speed of action of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator in massive pulmonary embolism

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Emergency casebook
Paradoxical embolus illustrating speed of action of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator in massive pulmonary embolism
  1. H Madani1,
  2. P A Ransom2
  1. 1Royal Free NHS Trust Hospital, London, UK
  2. 2Department of Emergency Medicine, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, Brighton, UK
  1. Correspondence to:
 Dr H Madani
 Royal Free NHS Trust Hospital, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG, UK; h.madani{at}doctors.org.uk

Abstract

A case of a patient who presented with massive pulmonary embolism (PE) requiring thrombolysis with alteplase is reported. The subsequent presence of a patent foramen ovale and paradoxical embolism clinically demonstrated the speed of action of the recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. The advantage of this class of medication when considering the treatment options for a PE in an acute setting is highlighted.

  • ECHO, echocardiography
  • PE, pulmonary embolism
  • PFO, patent foramen ovale

https://doi.org/10.1136/emj.2006.045104

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Competing interests: None.

    • Informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of her details in this report.