[Acute bilharzial cor pulmonale due to Schistosoma mansoni]

The authors report a cause of acute cor pulmonale caused by Schistosoma mansoni bilharziosis. The clinical feature was a collapse with right ventricular failure following a delivery. The hemodynamic exploration showed a pre-capillary and supra-systemic pulmonary hypertension. The histopathologic study in post-mortem showed pulmonary lesions of fibrosis endarteritis with granulomatosis reaction round many eggs of Schistosoma mansoni. The authors discuss the frequency of various anatomic lesions (20, 30%), hemodynamic (20%) and clinical (2,5%) of the pulmonary bilharziosis. They recall the anatomical and histological mechanisms of the pulmonary artery hypertension in this disease. They emphasize the originality of this observation which is due to its super acute character and its Schistosoma mansoni bilharziosis etiology whereas pulmonary demonstrations are usually due to Schistosoma haematobium.