Chest
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Case Reports
A 12-Year-Old Girl Presenting With Recurrent Dyspnea and Pulmonary Ground-Glass Opacities.
A 12-year-old girl presented with shortness of breath with exercise for 2 weeks. Her oxygen saturation was 85% during exercise. Birth and family histories were unremarkable. ⋯ At that time, her symptoms failed to respond to a course of antibiotic therapy but resolved with IV methylprednisolone at 2.7 mg/kg/day. She remained on a tapering dose of methylprednisolone plus methotrexate for the next 18 months until withdrawal of these medications because of return of almost normal lung imaging. She had never had myalgia, muscle weakness, arthritis, rashes, mechanic's hands, Raynaud's phenomenon, dry mouth, or dry eyes.
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A 57-year-old man presented to the ED with a 1-month history of nonproductive cough and shortness of breath. The patient had been in his usual state of health until 2 months before presentation, when he experienced an episode of nonproductive cough and shortness of breath. He was diagnosed clinically with an upper respiratory tract infection; the symptoms resolved after 7 days with conservative therapy alone. ⋯ His medications included aspirin, metoprolol, metformin, and glipizide. He denied any history of tobacco, vaping, or recreational drug use. He worked as a cashier in a departmental store and has been doing so for most of his life.
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A 75-year-old woman was referred to the pulmonary office in January 2020 for cough and progressive worsening of shortness of breath over the years. Her medical history was significant for asthma that was diagnosed approximately 10 years earlier, when she first developed dyspnea. A pre-bronchodilator spirometry at that time showed severe airflow obstruction (Fig 1). ⋯ She was unable to walk more than 20 feet at a time. She had no pets at home and did not travel outside the United States. Her only home medications were multivitamins and low-dose aspirin.
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Case Reports
Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation in the Treatment of Pulmonary Light Chain Deposition Disease.
Light chain deposition disease is a rare condition that results in the deposition of light chains in organs and their subsequent dysfunction. It is often the consequence of unchecked light chain production by a plasma cell clone. ⋯ This therapy included a novel successful treatment with an autologous stem cell transplantation. To date, it is among the first such documented successful bone marrow transplantations in treatment of isolated pulmonary light chain deposition disease.