BACKGROUND: Patent foramen ovale (PFO) are common, normally resulting in a left­to­right shunt or no net shunting. Pulmonary embolism (PE) can cause sustained increased pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and right atrial pressure. Increasing positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) improves oxygenation at the expense of increasing intrathoracic pressures (ITP). Airway pressure release ventilation (APRV) decreases shunt fraction, improves ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) matching, increases cardiac output, and decreases right atrial pressure by facilitating low airway pressure.

CASE REPORT: A 40-year-old man presented with dyspnea and hemoptysis. Oxygen saturation (SaO2) 80% on room air with A­a gradient of 633 mmHg. Post-intubation SaO2 dropped to 71% on assist control, FiO2 100%, and PEEP of 5 cmH20. Successive PEEP dropped SaO2 to 60–70% and blood pressure plummeted. APRV was initaiated with improvement in SaO2 to 95% and improvement in blood pressure. Hemiparesis developed and CT head showed infarction. CT pulmonary angiogram found a large pulmonary embolism. Transthoracic echocardiogram detected right-to left intracardiac shunt, with large PFO.

CONCLUSIONS: There should be suspicion for a PFO when severe hypoxemia paradoxically worsens in response to increasing airway pressures. Concomitant venous and arterial thromboemboli should prompt evaluation for intra­cardiac shunt. Patients with PFO and hypoxemia should be evaluated for causes of sustained right-to­left pressure gradient, such as PE. Management should aim to decrease PVR and optimize V/Q matching by treating the inciting incident (e.g., thrombolytics in PE) and by minimizing ITP. APRV can minimize PVR and maximize V/Q ratios and should be considered in treating patients similar to the one whose case is presented here.

Keywords: computed tomography angiography, Cardiac Surgical Procedures, Echocardiography, Transesophageal, Foramen Ovale, Patent - surgery, Hypoxia - etiology, Oxygen - blood, Positive-Pressure Respiration - adverse effects, Pulmonary Embolism - diagnosis