The first clinical case of fat embolism was described over 100 years ago and significant progress has been made in the understanding of this condition since then. Gurd's criteria, consisting of major and minor clinical features, is the most commonly used diagnostic tool in the literature. Due to the lack of a gold standard for diagnosis, clinical criteria cannot be validated. It is now recogniz...

Yamamoto K, Kushimoto S. BMJ Case Rep 2017. doi:10.1136/bcr-2017-221493 Description A 68-year-old woman presenting with multiple rib, spine fractures, femur and ankle fractures after a fall from height was admitted. Although she responded to verbal orders appropriately at the time of admission, her consciousness drastically deteriorated after 4.5 hours of the accident. She presented a decerebra...

who had sustained fat embolism. For the purposes of the present investigation three blood samples were taken from an arm vein in each patient; the first after the induction of anaesthesia but before insertion of the pertrochanteric needle; the second five minutes after the first injection of contrast material; and the third 20 minutes later. The blood was allowed to clot and the plasma then exa...

Background—Cerebral fat embolism syndrome is a rare, but potentially lethal, complication of long bone fractures. Neurological symptoms are variable, and the clinical diagnosis is difficult. The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate the value of diffusion-weighted MRI of the brain for early diagnosis of fat embolism syndrome. Case Description—A non–head-injured 18-year-old woman suffered...

BACKGROUND Cerebral fat embolism syndrome is a rare, but potentially lethal, complication of long bone fractures. Neurological symptoms are variable, and the clinical diagnosis is difficult. The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate the value of diffusion-weighted MRI of the brain for early diagnosis of fat embolism syndrome. Case Description- A non-head-injured 18-year-old woman suffere...