Shortness of breath and lower limb edema in a 54-year-old woman, is there any cure?

Abstract

Introduction: Pulmonary hypertension is common among patients with hyperthyroidism, and Graves’ disease constitutes the most common cause of thyrotoxicosis. Case Presentation: We report the case of a female patient admitted to the cardiology department with shortness of breath and pretibial myxedema. The diagnostic work-up revealed combined pre- and post-capillary pulmonary hypertension due to Graves’ disease superimposed on left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Restoration of thyroid function led to normalization of the pulmonary pressure and symptom resolution. Conclusions: Thyroid disease is a cause of reversible pulmonary hypertension and thus should be appropriately considered in the diagnostic algorithm in patients with dyspnea, clinical signs of hyperthyroidism and elevated pulmonary pressure.

Keywords

• Dyspnea; Myxedema; Hypertension