[Acute cor pulmonale as a sequela of tumor embolism]

It is reported on a 22-year-old female patient with a chondroplastic osteosarcoma in the sacrum in whom in the course of her disease a massive embolism due to a tumour developed under the clinical picture of an acute pulmonary embolism. The clinical tentative diagnosis of a massive pulmonary embolism was confirmed by means of lung perfusion scintigram and pulmonary angiography. All efforts for a rapid recanalisation of the left pulmonary trunk by means of mechanical alteration, use of balloon catheter and subsequent thrombolysis were without success. Pathologo-anatomically a recurred tumorous thrombus embolism with an extensive pulmonary infarction in the left inferior lobe of the lung was found. The incidence as well as diagnostic viewpoints of embolisms due to tumour are discussed.