Pulmonary fat embolism: a case report

Full text: Introduction: Fat embolism is a clinical syndrome that usually occurs from the first to third day after a bone fracture or/and an orthopaedic surgery. The target organs are the lungs and more rarely the brain and the skin. Objectives and tasks: The aim of this presentation is to discuss the imaging diagnostic criteria of lung fat embolism in CT on the occasion of a case. Material and methods: A 30-years-old male patient was admitted to the Orthopaedic Department after a motorbike accident. A fracture of the head of his right femur was diagnosed and the patient underwent a surgery 3 days later. During the first postoperative day, the patient presented severe dyspnoea, tachycardia, a significant fall of PO2 (59 mmHg) and a parallel increase in d-Dimmers (7.8 mg/l). The patient was then referred for a chest CT scan. Results: Contrast enhanced CT excluded the presence of thrombus in the pulmonary arteries and raised the diagnosis of lung fat embolism (septal thickening with a nodular pattern and diffuse ground-glass opacities along with the presence of small quantity of bilateral pleural effusions). Conclusion: Chest CT prior and the use of intravenous contrast media after is the most reliable diagnostic method to confirm or exclude pulmonary fat embolism syndrome