Without focal surface patches of lines of Zahn, fresh ante- and postmortem venous thrombi can not be distinguished microscopically. Both appear as sheets of red cells. Pulmonary infarction with dyspnea, pleuritic chest pain, and hemoptysis does not occur in most cases. Most common symptom in non-fatal cases is otherwise unexplained dyspnea, although chest pain without dyspnea also occurs. Critical diagnosis to consider with a high index of suspicion, because death due to ensuing massive embolization is preventable by easy insertion of the Greenfield filter into inferior vena cava via the femoral vein.
Imaging techniques are available to determine diagnosis.
One of the major problems in clinical diagnosis, as revealed by autopsy studies. Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease. Search Medline at National Library of Medicine Please be patient during transfer. Medline will open in a new window.