Introduction:

Pulmonary tumor thromboembolism is the presence of accumulations of tumor cells in the pulmonary arterioles and pulmonary capillaries. Its incidence in autopsies has been described between 3% and 26% of patients with solid tumors, most frequently in breast, stomach, liver and lung tumors.

Objective:

To describe clinical arguments suggesting the suspected diagnosis of tumor thromboembolism in a patient treated at the “Dr. Carlos J. Finlay'' Hospital in Havana, Cuba.

Casepresentation:

Eighty-year-old female patient with personal pathological antecedents of liver cirrhosis due to hepatitis C virus. Two months before admission she started presenting general symptoms associated with edemaof the lower limbs and diarrhea. She was admitted to an Internal Medicine service with the diagnosis of decompensated hepatic cirrhosis and the suspicion of hepatocarcinoma. On the fifth day after admission, he suddenly began with dyspnea and died.

Conclusions:

Anatomopathological findings report tumor thromboembolism as a direct cause of death. Pulmonary tumor thromboembolism should be considered inthe differential diagnosis of all patients with evidence of neoplasia who are presenting dyspnea.

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