Skip to main content

Pulmonary Embolism-Causes-Pulmonary Infarction-Clinical Signs



Causes Of Pulmonary Embolism
1. Emboli:
  Thrombi in deep veins of legs are the usual source of pulmonary emboli

2. Thrombi
  Pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary atherosclerosis and heart failure are common causes of formation of pulmonary Thrombi (although it is rarer than emboli)

Morphology:
1. Large emboli occlude larger arteries leading sudden enlargement of the right ventricle (cor pulmonale) leading to syncope or sudden death.

2. In the normal circulatory system when small emboli block the smaller pulmonary arteries, it will not result in infarction, because normal bronchial arterial supply fulfils the requirement of the lung parenchyma, in this case only Pulmonary haemorrhage will be there.
Bronchial arteries arise from aorta and supply lungs. therefore, lungs have a dual blood supply, one comes from the left ventricle through bronchial arteries and the other comes from the right ventricle through pulmonary arteries.

3. In the case of the abnormal circulatory system (that is heart or lung disease), small emboli cause infarction.

4. Lower lobes are mostly affected


5. On chest X-ray, the infarcted zone is wedge-shaped with its base at the periphery of lung and apex pointing towards the hilum.
pulmonary-embolism-chest-xray-image-reload
Chest X-ray showing wedge-shaped Pulmonary infarction on the right side.
Clinical Signs/Course:

1. Respiratory Compromise. Breathing will be difficult, and the patient experiences shortness of breath
2. Hemodynamic compromise: Blood pressure will decrease.

In Case Of Small Emboli:
1. dyspnea (shortness of breath)
2. Tachypnea (Respiratory rate increases)
3. Fever
4. Chest pain
5. Cough
8. Hemoptysis

In Case Of Large Emboli.
9. Syncope or sudden death.

Popular posts from this blog

Human Parasites, Types of Parasites, and Classification

Parasite: A parasite is a living organism which gets nutrition and protection from another organism where it lives. Parasites enter into the human body through mouth, skin and genitalia. In this article, we will generally discuss the types and classification of parasites. It is important from an academic point of view. Those parasites are harmful, which derives their nutrition and other benefits from the host and host get nothing in return but suffers from some injury. Types of Parasites Ecto-parasite: An ectoparasite lives outside on the surface of the body of the host. Endo-parasite: An endo-parasite lives inside the body of the host, it lives in the blood, tissues, body cavities, digestive tract or other organs. Temporary parasite: A temporary parasite visits its host for a short period of time. Permanent parasite: Permanent parasite lives its whole life in the host. Facultative parasite: A facultative parasite can live both independently and dependently. It lives in the

How to taper off, wean off beta blocker, atenolol, Propranolol, Metoprolol

Beta blockers include, atenolol (Tenormin), propranolol (Inderal ) and metoprolol (Lopressor) and are used to treat high blood pressure, certain cardiac problems, migraine and few other conditions. People usually take atenolol, propranolol or metoprolol for many years as a treatment of high blood pressure or after having an episode of heart attack . Sometimes, it becomes necessary to withdraw these beta blockers due to their potential side effects that trouble the patients or sometimes doctor wants to change the drug and shift the patient to some other anti-hypertensive medicine. No matter whatever the cause is, whenever, a patient who has been using a beta blocker for a long period of time, and he needs to be stopped from further usage of that beta blocker, must not stop taking it. One should taper off the dose of a beta blocker. Now a question arises how to wean off or taper off a beta blocker? The method of tapering off beta blocker varies from individual to individual. Allow you