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Updated: May 27, 2026

A Porcine Model of Acute Autologous Pulmonary Embolism
Published on: September 6, 2024
Platypnea-orthodeoxia due to fat embolism
Stavros Gourgiotis1, Stavros Aloizos, Christos Gakis
1Second Surgical Department, 401 General Army Hospital of Athens, Greece.
Abstract:
Platypnea-orthodeoxia is an uncommon syndrome that is characterized by dyspnea relieved by recumbency and deoxygenation following a change from a recumbent to an upright posture. We herein describe a case of platypnea-orthodeoxia in a 75-year-old man after a surgical restoration of a bitrochanteric fracture of his right femur. However, in this extremely rare case, none of the current known anatomical or functional conditions which can cause platypnea-orthodeoxia had been diagnosed. We strongly believe that this syndrome could be also the result of fat embolism.
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