Why chronic constipation may be harmful to your lungs: a case report and review of lipoid pneumonia and mycobacterium fortuitum leading to acute respiratory failure and septic shock

• Main Authors: Till S, Mathew M, Liao D-W, Ramirez C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Arizona Thoracic Society 2015-10-01
• Series: Southwest Journal of Pulmonary and Critical Care
• Subjects: lipoid pneumonia; mineral oil; constipation; atypical mycobacteria; Mycobacterium fortuitum; chest x-ray; CT scan; histology; pathology; exogenous
• Online Access: http://www.swjpcc.com/pulmonary/2015/10/29/why-chronic-constipation-may-be-harmful-to-your-lungs-a-case.html

No abstract available. Article truncated at 150 words. A 43 year-old female with a past medical history of right-sided hemiparesis secondary to motor vehicle accident 17 years prior presented a two week history of cough, fever and right-sided pleuritic chest pain. Her baseline status included using a wheelchair, living alone at home and working as a teacher. On admission she had a temperature of 39.6º C, was tachycardia and hypotensive requiring vasopressors. Labs were remarkable for a white count of 25,000 cells/mcL. Chest x-ray showed right-sided infiltrate and pleural effusion (Figure 1). Bronchoscopy and thoracentesis was performed upon admission. The pleural fluid was exudative with a glucose of 78 and no suggestion of loculations on chest x-ray or ultrasound. The patient was started on therapy for community-acquired pneumonia. On day 4 after admission, the patient had increasing sinus tachycardia, hypotension and was worsening despite being on antimicrobial therapy. A CT angiogram of the chest was performed (Figure 2). ...