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Pulmonary embolism following tonsillectomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2006

Irene Leonard ,
Peter Lacy ,
Denis Moriarty  and
Alexander Blayney
Irene Leonard
Affiliation:
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Peter Lacy
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Denis Moriarty
Affiliation:
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Alexander Blayney
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
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Abstract

Acute post-operative pulmonary embolism is a serious potentially life-threatening complication which is not anticipated in young patients undergoing non-major surgery. We report a case in which a 32-year-old previously healthy woman developed a major pulmonary embolism following tonsillectomy. Subsequent investigations revealed the presence of an occult malignancy. This case highlights the role of paraneoplastic hypercoagulable states in the aetiology of venous thromboembolism and the importance of thromboprophylaxis in the presence of confirmed or suspected malignancy. To our knowlege no case of major pulmonary embolism occurring after tonsillectomy has been previously reported.

Keywords

TonsillectomyPulmonary Embolism
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 115 , Issue 10 , October 2001 , pp. 823 - 825
Copyright
© Royal Society of Medicine Press Limited 2001

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