Bilateral Pulmonary Embolism After Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty: A Case Report

Venous thromboembolism is a rare surgical complication after shoulder replacement surgery. Most common seen for those who underwent for lower limb reconstruction such as: total hip or knee arthroplasty as well as orthopaedic trauma surgery in general. we report one case of 56-year-old male known to have diabetes mellitus and hypertension who had an isolated proximal humerus fracture. He underwent for reverse shoulder arthroplasty and the patient had an uneventful day of surgery. On postoperative day 2, patient started to have lightheadedness with decreased oxygen saturation. He denied any history of chest pain or shortness of breath. Patient was put on 2L oxygen face mask. Patient was evaluated by the medical team. CT spiral was done and it revealed bilateral small filling defects involving the right lower pulmonary artery and the left upper lobar pulmonary artery. Patient was started on anticoagulant therapy with improvement in his condition.