Abstract
This case illustrates the reopening of foramen ovale in a young patient with chronic pulmonary hypertension caused by bronchiectasis and chronic pulmonary fibrosis, which resulted in a prominent right-to-left shunt and severe hypoxia. Her clinically unsuspected right-to-left shunt was discovered during ventilation-perfusion scan, which was performed for the evaluation of pulmonary embolism. She had common variable immune deficiency, a primary immunodeficiency disease in which B-lymphocytes produce few or no antibodies. Most patients with this syndrome have an intrinsic defect in their B-lymphocytes that results in reduced immunoglobulin production. In these patients, recurrent respiratory tract infections are common and may result in chronic lung disease, fibrosis, particularly bronchiectasis (20-30%) and even cor pulmonale as happened in our patient [1] [J. Clin. Immunol. 9 (1989) 22-33.].
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 349-352 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Clinical Imaging |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2002 |
Keywords
- Paradoxical embolism
- Patent foramen ovale
- Pulmonary embolism
- V/Q scan
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging