Intracardiac Cement Embolism
Heng‐Yu Pan, Tao-Yu Wu, Hsuan‐Yu Chen, Jiun-Yi Wu, Min‐Tsun Liao
Abstract
A 78-year-old woman was presented with sharp chest pain and dyspnea as a chief complaint in the midst of hemodialytic session. Just 2 days before her visit to emergency department, she received vertebroplasty for L1 to L3 osteoporotic compression fracture. The patient has a medical history of endstage renal disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, tongue cancer, and bladder cancer. The physical examination was normal, and the vital signs taken initially revealed elevated blood pressure but absence of tachycardia (blood pressure 176/75 mm Hg, heart rate 67 bpm). Blood tests showed elevated levels of cardiac markers and D-dimer (troponin-T, 107.8 ng/L [normal range <14], NT-proBNP [N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide], 9348 pg/mL [normal range <1800 for risk of heart failure], D-dimer, 2.79 mg/L [normal range <0.549]). ECG exhibited normal sinus rhythm without significant ST-segment deviation. Chest radiography exposed 2 needle-like fragments in the middle of her mediastinum shadow (Figure The patient was discharged from the hospital on the same day, as symptoms ameliorated under antianginal agents.