A Case of Stroke due to Pulmonary Venous Thrombosis

Pulmonary vein thrombosis (PVT) is a rare but potentially lethal disease. It most commonly occurs as a complication of malignancy, post-lung surgery or atrial fibrillation. Thrombi are typically detected using a variety of imaging modalities including transesophageal echo, CT-scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or pulmonary angiography. Treatment consists of anticoagulation. Here we report a case of a middle-aged male with systolic left ventricular dysfunction who presented with a stroke due to embolization from a pulmonary vein thrombus diagnosed on CT scan. Etiology of the thrombosis was felt to be secondary to severe systolic dysfunction. Based upon this case report, we believe that pulmonary venous embolism should be considered as a cause of cryptogenic stroke in patients with a significantly reduced cardiac systolic function.