Presentation
Motor bike accident.
Patient Data
Age: 20 years
Gender: Male
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Lipohemarthrosis. Proximal fibular avulsion fracture.
From the case:
Venous fat embolus on trauma CT
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Fat embolus in the left common femoral and external iliac veins. L1 and L2 fractures (not well seen).
Case Discussion
Large fat embolus from a lower limb fracture, on chest imaging there was no pulmonary complications. Fat emboli occur in almost every patient with a long-bone fracture but only a few (range 1-29%) become symptomatic, and this is known as fat embolism syndrome.