Dyspnea and
hypoxemia in a
patient with
cancer may have several causes, including
infections,
thromboembolism,
metastases, and
pulmonary injuries by
drugs. We
report a 47-year-old
female with
breast cancer and a 70-year-old
male with
urinary bladder cancer who were admitted for
dyspnea,
hypoxemia and
pulmonary hypertension.
Chest X rays and CT scans were normal. The
ventilation-
perfusion scintigram was highly suspicions of
thromboembolism in the
female. The
male died 16 hours after admission and the
post mortem examination revealed the presence of
tumor cells in the pulmonary vasculature.