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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension and Assessment of Right Ventricular Function in the Piglet
Published on: November 4, 2015
Small left atrium: an adjunctive sign of hemodynamically compromised massive pulmonary embolism
Yukihiro Hama1, Tadayuki Yakushiji, Yoshie Iwasaki
1Radiation Biology Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Building 10, Room B3B69, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA. yjhama2005@yahoo.co.jp
Abstract:
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common disease with a high mortality rate due to right ventricular dysfunction and underfilling of the left ventricle. We present a case of a 33-year-old man with hemodynamically compromised massive PE. His left atrium was collapsed with marked dilatation of the right atrium and ventricle on multi-detector-row CT scans. The patient was treated with an intracatheter injection of a mutant tissue-type plasminogen activator and subsequently showed clinical and radiological improvements. The small left atrial size in combination with a right ventricular pressure overload was considered to be an adjunctive sign of hemodynamically compromised massive PE.
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