Biomaterial Database

Lung scintigraphy in postpneumonectomy dyspnea due to a right-to-left shunt. 1997

E Durand, and E Bussy, and J F Gaillard

Service de Médecine Nucléaire, Hôpital d'Instruction des Armées du Val de Grâce, Paris, France.

We report the case of a 50-yr-old man who experienced exertional dyspnea 5 mo after a left pneumonectomy for carcinoma. As the clinical features pointed toward a pulmonary embolism, we performed a ventilation plus perfusion radionuclide lung scan. It showed no evidence of pulmonary embolism, but it did show a systemic uptake of the isotope, suggesting a right-to-left shunt that was confirmed by contrast echocardiography, which revealed an atrial septal defect. Right-to-left shunts after pneumonectomy have already been reported and can be diagnosed by lung scintigraphy. Usually, a patent foramen ovale is encountered, but the underlying physiopathology remains under discussion. Clinically, right-to-left shunts are often related to platypnea-orthodeoxia.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008168	Lung	Either of the pair of organs occupying the cavity of the thorax that effect the aeration of the blood.	Lungs
D008175	Lung Neoplasms	Tumors or cancer of the LUNG.	Cancer of Lung,Lung Cancer,Pulmonary Cancer,Pulmonary Neoplasms,Cancer of the Lung,Neoplasms, Lung,Neoplasms, Pulmonary,Cancer, Lung,Cancer, Pulmonary,Cancers, Lung,Cancers, Pulmonary,Lung Cancers,Lung Neoplasm,Neoplasm, Lung,Neoplasm, Pulmonary,Pulmonary Cancers,Pulmonary Neoplasm
D008297	Male		Males
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D011013	Pneumonectomy	The excision of lung tissue including partial or total lung lobectomy.	Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction,Endoscopic Lung Volume Reduction,Lung Volume Reduction,Lung Volume Reduction Surgery,Partial Pneumonectomy,Partial Pneumonectomies,Pneumonectomies,Pneumonectomy, Partial,Reduction, Lung Volume,Volume Reduction, Lung
D011183	Postoperative Complications	Pathologic processes that affect patients after a surgical procedure. They may or may not be related to the disease for which the surgery was done, and they may or may not be direct results of the surgery.	Complication, Postoperative,Complications, Postoperative,Postoperative Complication
D011655	Pulmonary Embolism	Blocking of the PULMONARY ARTERY or one of its branches by an EMBOLUS.	Pulmonary Thromboembolism,Thromboembolism, Pulmonary,Embolism, Pulmonary,Embolisms, Pulmonary,Pulmonary Embolisms,Pulmonary Thromboembolisms,Thromboembolisms, Pulmonary
D011877	Radionuclide Imaging	The production of an image obtained by cameras that detect the radioactive emissions of an injected radionuclide as it has distributed differentially throughout tissues in the body. The image obtained from a moving detector is called a scan, while the image obtained from a stationary camera device is called a scintiphotograph.	Gamma Camera Imaging,Radioisotope Scanning,Scanning, Radioisotope,Scintigraphy,Scintiphotography,Imaging, Gamma Camera,Imaging, Radionuclide
D003937	Diagnosis, Differential	Determination of which one of two or more diseases or conditions a patient is suffering from by systematically comparing and contrasting results of diagnostic measures.	Diagnoses, Differential,Differential Diagnoses,Differential Diagnosis
D004417	Dyspnea	Difficult or labored breathing.	Orthopnea,Platypnea,Recumbent Dyspnea,Rest Dyspnea,Trepopnea,Breathlessness,Shortness of Breath,Breath Shortness,Dyspnea, Recumbent,Dyspnea, Rest,Dyspneas, Rest