Key result
An 80-year-old man with an atypical presentation of near-syncope was found to have extensive bilateral pulmonary embolisms following a pulseless electrical activity arrest, ultimately resulting in death.
Why the study?
Timely diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism is often difficult when presenting symptoms are atypical, carrying potentially fatal consequences.
Case Report (n=1)
This case report highlights the diagnostic challenge and potential fatality of acute pulmonary embolism presenting with atypical symptoms such as near-syncope.
Near-syncope may signal occult fatal PE; single case leaves open whether atypical presentations warrant routine evaluation.
Acute pulmonary embolism is a common medical condition that clinicians face in practice. It is important to have a prompt diagnosis with proper management as it is associated with high morbidity and mortality. However, a timely diagnosis is often difficult to obtain especially when the presenting symptoms are atypical, but the consequence could be fatal. We present an 80-year-old gentleman who presented with a near-syncope episode who subsequently was found to have acute extensive bilateral pulmonary embolisms after a code blue event.
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Zhang et al. (2020) conducted a case report in Acute pulmonary embolism (n=1). Therapeutic intravenous heparin was evaluated on Clinical outcome. An 80-year-old man with an atypical presentation of near-syncope was found to have extensive bilateral pulmonary embolisms following a pulseless electrical activity arrest, ultimately resulting in death.
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