Case report
Spontaneous showering of tumor emboli in a patient with advanced primary lung cancer: a case report
SUNY Upstate Medical University, Department of Emergency Medicine, 550 E. Genesee Street, Syracuse, NY, USA
International Journal of Emergency Medicine 2012, 5:27 doi:10.1186/1865-1380-5-27
Published: 6 June 2012Abstract
Extension of primary lung tumors into the left atrium via pulmonary veins is a well-documented phenomenon. Peripheral arterial embolism and cerebral embolism originating from a primary lung neoplasm are rare events. We report a case of simultaneous acute bilateral lower limb ischemia, bilateral renal infarction, splenic infarction and cerebral infarction as a result of multiple emboli originating from primary lung malignancy invasion of the left atrium. An emergent embolectomy revealed pathologic features of the extracted thrombus that were identical to the pulmonary neoplasm.
