Tuberc Respir Dis.
2000 Mar;48(3):383-387.
Fat embolism syndrome with pulmonary hemorrhage of unknown origin
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
- 2Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
Abstract
-
Fat embolism syndrome is a rare but serious complication occurring most of the time in patients
with long bone fractures. And it occasionally occurs when patient had underlying disease. For
example, pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus, alcoholic liver disease and connective tissue
disease can be risk factors. The 44-year old woman visited to the Korea university hospital
because of sudden dry cough, blood tinged sputum, and exertional dyspnea. We found petechiae
on her anterior chest wall. Chest X-ray and CT showed patchy opacities and multifocal
ground-glass opacities in both lung fields. Open lung biopsy demonstrated diffuse pulmonary
hemorrhage and intravascular macrovesicular fat bubbles. After conservative management, her
symptoms and radiologic findings were significantly improved. We report a case of fat embolism
syndrome without any known risk factors.