CASE 27 - A 75-year-old female with shortness of breath and chest pain

Abstract

An embolism is an intravascular mass that travels and occludes downstream vasculature; pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism that arises from a blood clot in the large veins of the legs and pelvis and travels through the venous circulation to the lungs. Thromboemboli can also originate from indwelling venous lines. This case presents a 75-year-old woman with sudden onset of shortness of breath and massive fatal pulmonary embolism.