Key result
An 89-year-old male with a history of colon adenocarcinoma treated with capecitabine was incidentally found to have an asymptomatic saddle pulmonary embolism on an abdominal CT scan.
Why the study?
Saddle pulmonary embolisms may frequently present asymptomatically without typical symptoms such as dyspnea or pleuritic pain.
Case Report (n=1)
Alerts clinicians to possible asymptomatic PE in colon cancer; this case report leaves open the value of routine screening.
A saddle pulmonary embolism is defined as a large thromboembolus lodged at the bifurcation of the pulmonary artery. It would be expected for a patient with a saddle pulmonary embolism to present with symptoms such as dyspnea or pleuritic pain. However, more often than not, saddle pulmonary embolisms may present asymptomatically and are not associated with the typical symptoms. We present a case of an incidental finding of saddle pulmonary embolism in an 89-year-old patient with a past medical history significant of gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma that was treated with capecitabine. The saddle pulmonary embolism was found incidentally on computer tomography (CT) with the contrast of the abdomen and subsequently confirmed with CT of the chest with contrast. It is crucial to be mindful of a possible pulmonary embolism in a patient with similar past medical history.
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Nahidi et al. (2021) conducted a case report in Saddle pulmonary embolism and adenocarcinoma of the colon (n=1). Capecitabine was evaluated on Incidental finding of saddle pulmonary embolism. An 89-year-old male with a history of colon adenocarcinoma treated with capecitabine was incidentally found to have an asymptomatic saddle pulmonary embolism on an abdominal CT scan.
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