The Korean Journal of Pain

The Korean Pain Society (대한통증학회)
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Pulmonary Thromboembolism Presenting with Upper Thoracic Back Pain -A case report-

좌측 상 배부 통증으로 발현된 폐혈전색전증의 증례 -증례 보고-

  • Lee, Ji Young (Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea) ;
  • Choi, Jin Hwan (Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea) ;
  • Choi, Chang Hoon (Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea)
  • 이지영 (가톨릭대학교 의과대학 마취통증의학교실) ;
  • 최진환 (가톨릭대학교 의과대학 마취통증의학교실) ;
  • 최창훈 (가톨릭대학교 의과대학 마취통증의학교실)
  • Received : 2006.04.04
  • Accepted : 2006.06.07
  • Published : 2006.06.30
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Abstract

Upper thoracic back pain can be musculoskeletal in origin or it could be visceral referred pain, which may be indicative of a serious medical condition. We experienced a case of a 55-years-old female patient who complained of upper thoracic back pain for 1 month, which started 10 days after a traffic accident. She described the pain as being a dull, constant nagging sensation with an intensity of 4/10 on the visual analogue scale. Her pain did not subside after trigger point injection of the rhomboid and trapezius muscles. She reported intermittent palpitation, which indicated that the cardiovascular or pulmonary systems were involved. She was diagnosed with pulmonary thromboembolism by the imaging studies. Refractory upper thoracic back pain should be investigated to rule out this treatable, but potentially fatal condition.

Keywords

References

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