Pulmonary vein thrombosis and peripheral embolization

Abstract

A 78-year-old-woman was admitted to the hospital with bilateral femoral arterial occlusion. Her medical history disclosed atrial fibrillation and a left thoracoplasty performed 50 years earlier for treatment of tuberculosis. A transesophageal echocardiogram demonstrated intraluminal thrombus in a left pulmonary vein. The patient recovered after thromboembolectomy. This case documents another uncommon cause of cardiac thromboembolism in which a transesophageal echocardiogram was essential to make the diagnosis.