Pulmonary Infarct Secondary to Dirofilaria Larvae

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Abstract
Dirofilariais the generic name for long filiform nematodes that commonly infect dogs and other mammals. InDirofilaria immitisinfection, the adult parasite lodges in the right ventricular cavity and/or the pulmonary arteries and gives rise to circulating microfilaria. Despite its frequency in domesticated dogs,D immitisinfection is rare, and subcutaneous or orbital infections by other species ofDirofilariaare uncommon. Faust1reviewed the literature in 1957 and found only 37 cases of human infection; only three wereD immitis(heart worm) infection. All of the other cases involved orbital or subcutaneous tissues and were classified asD conjunctivaeorD repensinfections. Other instances of subcutaneous infection have been reported by Sams and Beck,2Jung and Harris,3and Lenth.4Dashiele5reported the first instance of human pulmonary involvement by recognizing larval dirofilariae in branches of the pulmonary artery within a "coin lesion." We

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