Diagnosis of isolated intracardiac cement embolism causing cardiac rupture via bedside transthoracic echocardiography: a case report

Background Bone cement leakage is a common complication of percutaneous vertebroplasty and may lead to severe complications such as intracardiac cement embolism. Bedside transthoracic echocardiography serves as a crucial tool in the diagnosis of intracardiac cement embolism. Case presentation An eld...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMC cardiovascular disorders Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 574 - 7
Main Authors: Chen, Fei, Li, Cong, Chen, Yu-Jia, Hu, Yan-Ze
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London BioMed Central 02.08.2025
BioMed Central Ltd
Springer Nature B.V
BMC
Subjects:
Aged
Angiology
Asymptomatic
Bedside transthoracic echocardiography
Blood
Blood Transfusion Medicine
Bone cements
Bone Cements - adverse effects
Bone implants
Bone surgery
Cardiac rupture
Cardiac Surgery
Cardiology
Care and treatment
Case Report
Case reports
Causes of
Cement
Chest
Complications
Complications and side effects
Computed tomography
Diagnosis
Dyspnea
Echocardiography
Effusion
Electrocardiography
Embolism
Embolism - diagnostic imaging
Embolism - etiology
Embolism - surgery
Emergency medical care
Equipment and supplies
Female
Foreign bodies (Medical care)
Fractures
Heart
Heart attacks
Heart diseases
Heart Rupture - diagnostic imaging
Heart Rupture - etiology
Heart Rupture - surgery
Humans
Hypertension
Internal Medicine
Intracardiac cement embolism
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Myocardial infarction
Pain
Patients
Percutaneous vertebroplasty
Point-of-Care Systems
Point-of-Care Testing
Polymethyl methacrylate
Predictive Value of Tests
Pulmonary arteries
Pulmonary artery
Pulmonary embolisms
Rupture
Surgery
Tomography
Treatment Outcome
Veins & arteries
Ventricle
Vertebroplasty
Vertebroplasty - adverse effects
China
Case report
Cardiac rupture
Percutaneous vertebroplasty
Intracardiac cement embolism
Bedside transthoracic echocardiography
ISSN:1471-2261, 1471-2261
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background Bone cement leakage is a common complication of percutaneous vertebroplasty and may lead to severe complications such as intracardiac cement embolism. Bedside transthoracic echocardiography serves as a crucial tool in the diagnosis of intracardiac cement embolism. Case presentation An elderly female developed acute sharp chest pain with ST-segment depression two hours postvertebroplasty and was initially suspected to have acute myocardial infarction according to her symptoms/ECGs. Bedside transthoracic echocardiography excluded the diagnosis of wall motion abnormalities but revealed a linear, highly echogenic structure within the right atrium and ventricle chambers. One end of the structure pierced the anterior wall of the right ventricle, and a small volume of pericardial effusion was detected. By integrating the patient’s history of bone cement injection, sonographers quickly changed the diagnosis from infarction to cardiac rupture by cement embolism. A chest computed tomography (CT) scan revealed no abnormalities in the pulmonary artery or its distal branches. The clinicians were able to diagnose isolated intracardiac cement embolism in a timely manner. Surgical thoracotomy was performed to remove the cement from the heart and repair the right ventricle rupture. The patient’s postoperative recovery went smoothly. Conclusion Bedside transthoracic echocardiography may aid in the timely diagnosis of intracardiac cement embolism and characterization of its features and assist in the assessment of associated severe complications. This case report can serve as a valuable reference for guiding clinical diagnosis and treatment decisions.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ObjectType-Report-3
ObjectType-Case Study-4
content type line 23
ISSN:1471-2261
1471-2261
DOI:10.1186/s12872-025-05076-x