Acute Pulmonary Embolism with Multiple Septic Emboli and Pulmonary Infarcts in an IV Drug Abuser with Right-Sided Endocarditis: A Case Report

Abstract

This case report describes the imaging findings of septic pulmonary embolism (SPE) in a 30-year-old male with a history of intravenous drug abuse for one year. The patient initially presented with high grade fever, shortness of breath, and cough in the emergency department of our institution. The patient was evaluated by chest X-ray, blood cultures, echocardiography, and CT pulmonary angiography which confirmed the diagnosis of SPE, and the causative organism was confirmed to be Staphylococcus aureus. In this case report, we discuss the Chest X-ray findings, and characteristic CT imaging findings of SPE and describe the role of different imaging modalities in the timely diagnosis and management of this highly fatal condition.