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Updated: Jun 29, 2026

Point-Of-Care Ultrasound Screening for Proximal Lower Extremity Deep Venous Thrombosis
Published on: February 10, 2023
[Disseminated arterial occlusions revealing bilateral venous thrombosis with paradoxical embolisms]
A Elsendoorn1, E Desport, R Vialle
1Service de réanimation médicale et médecine interne, CHU de Poitiers, 2, rue de la Milétrie, 86021 Poitiers, France. antoine.elsendoorn@wanadoo.fr
Abstract:
Paradoxical embolism is a diagnosis of exclusion. Clinical triad associates deep venous thrombosis with or without pulmonary embolism, arterial embolism, and intracardiac communication with right-to-left shunt. The intracardiac communication is generally related to a patent foramen ovale (PFO). We report a 75-year-old patient, who presented with bilateral deep venous thrombosis of the legs, complicated by massive pulmonary embolism and paradoxical embolisms through a PFO. This resulted in cerebral, mesenteric, splenic and bilateral kidney infarctions. A promptly initiated anticoagulant treatment allowed a favourable outcome.
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