Pulmonary embolism presenting as syncope: A case report

Abstract

Introduction. Despite the high incidence of pulmonary embolism its diagnosis continues to be difficult, primarily because of the vagaries of symptoms and signs in presentation. Conversely, syncope is a relatively easy clinical symptom to detect, but has varied etiologies that lead to a documented cause in only 58% of syncopal events. Syncope as the presenting symptom of pulmonary embolism has proven to be a difficult clinical correlation to make. Case presentation. We present the case of a 26-year-old Caucasian man with pulmonary embolism induced-syncope and review the pathophysiology and diagnostic considerations. Conclusions. Pulmonary embolism should be considered in the differential diagnosis of every syncopal event that presents at an emergency department. © 2009 Demircan et al.; licensee Cases Network Ltd.