Implications of a 5-liter urinary bladder: inferior vena cava syndrome leading to bilateral pulmonary artery emboli.

Compression of the inferior vena cava by the distended urinary bladder is rare but is usually found in the presence of lower extremity edema. Here, we present the case of a 68-year-old man found to have multiple pulmonary emboli as the first manifestation of inferior vena cava compression from a distended urinary bladder 5 L in capacity.