Case - Diagnosis

So, we made this diagnosis within minutes of arrival. We gave her TPA (or thrombolytics), these are clot busting drugs that can dissolve a clot in the lung. We actually gave three doses of this prior to even getting her to CT scan. She did code again. We were able to get her back. She required a course of extracorporeal membrane oxygen or ECMO and a brief period of dialysis, but I went up to meet her in the hospital and she was completely neurologically intact and and walked out of the hospital. Had we not had ultrasound at the bedside, I don’t know what would have happened to this patient, I don’t think that she would have survived. It’s not a diagnosis which that was easy to make, even with the ultrasound, or to treat and I think it (ultrasound) made the difference.

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