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Updated: May 27, 2026

A Porcine Model of Acute Autologous Pulmonary Embolism
Published on: September 6, 2024
Pulmonary and paradoxical embolism with platypnoea-orthodeoxia
Santhosh Seetharaman1, Boris Lams, Anthony Rudd
1Department of ageing and Health, St. Thomas's Hospital, London.
Abstract:
This article outlines the case of a 62-year-old man who presented with a deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolus and right middle cerebral artery territory ischaemic stroke in association with a patent foramen ovale with right-to-left shunting. Despite anticoagulation, he was noted to have desaturation and tachypnoea when upright, without other symptoms or cardiovascular compromise, that resolved on lying down. The article describes the syndrome of platypnoea-orthodeoxia, characterized by breathlessness, hypoxia and/or cyanosis while in the upright position that improves on lying down, its relationship to this case, and its resolution by closure of the patent foramen ovale.
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