Breathless female patient claiming to be 8 months pregnant: what to expect

Abstract

The authors present a 45-year-old female patient with symptoms of chronic right ventricular failure, which were interpreted by the patient as signs of pregnancy. Sudden deterioration of clinical status, which occurred after 8 months, prompted the patient to consult a physician. Transthoracic echocardiographic examination disclosed a massive saddle pulmonary embolism with severe right ventricular dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension. The patient did not consent to proposed surgical treatment. Because of clinical and hemodynamic instability the thrombolytic therapy was introduced. The control echocardiographic examination showed only minimal reduction of thrombus size. The patient died 2 days later.