Fat embolism syndrome: common entity; uncommonly diagnosed

Author: 
Dr. Jyoti Goyal and Dr. Vipul Mishra

Fat embolism syndrome is frequently a misdiagnosis. Both intensivists and orthopaedic surgeons are recognizing its more common occurrence than hitherto thought. The classical triad of hypoxia, skin involvement and neurological involvement is not always present and over dependence on scoring system may lead to misdiagnosis in our opinion. Here we report a case of Fat embolism syndrome presenting without the classical symptoms but in a critical condition. High index of suspicion lead to early diagnosis and prompt treatment with complete recovery of patient.

Paper No: 
3774