Fatal cerebral fat embolism associated with a patent foramen ovale

E E Etchells; D T Wong; G Davidson; P L Houston

doi:10.1378/chest.104.3.962

Fatal cerebral fat embolism associated with a patent foramen ovale

Chest. 1993 Sep;104(3):962-3. doi: 10.1378/chest.104.3.962.

Authors

E E Etchells¹, D T Wong, G Davidson, P L Houston

Affiliation

¹ Division of General Internal Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology, Toronto Hospital, Canada.

PMID: 8365324
DOI: 10.1378/chest.104.3.962

Abstract

A healthy 22-year-old woman developed respiratory failure and brain death within 48 h of bilateral tibial fractures. Autopsy showed fat embolism in the lung and brain, and a large patent foramen ovale that may have contributed to massive cerebral fat embolism.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Adult
Embolism, Fat / complications*
Embolism, Fat / pathology
Female
Heart Septal Defects, Atrial / complications*
Humans
Intracranial Embolism and Thrombosis / complications*
Intracranial Embolism and Thrombosis / pathology
Tibial Fractures / complications