Pulmonary infarction in healthy young males

Abstract

It is widely recognised that the elderly immobilised, sick, traumatised or postoperative patient is the most likely candidate to develop pulmonary embolism and infarction, and that the risk increases in direct proportion to the duration of the illness and to the age of the patient. Over the past few years, a number of autopsy studies have stressed the high incidence of deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in individuals who are otherwise normal. Unfortunately, many clinicians have been slow to appreciate this point and fail to recognise the condition unless well-established predisposing factors are present. This paper reports the findings in four young male patients who developed pulmonary infarction in the absence of obvious precipitating causes.