Respiratory medicine case reports
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Respir Med Case Rep · Jan 2015
Case ReportsDramatic and sustained responsiveness of pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis-associated pulmonary hypertension to vasodilator therapy.
Pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis (PLCH) is an uncommon diffuse lung disease characterized by the abnormal accumulation of Langerhans' cells around small airways and other distal lung compartments. Although pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a frequent complication of PLCH, the role of advanced PH therapies for PLCH-related PH is not well-established. We describe a PLCH patient with severe, disease-related PH that responded unexpectedly well to advanced PH therapy with sustained improvement over a 10 year follow-up period. This case indicates that PLCH-associated PH may, in certain instances, be highly responsive to advanced PH therapies and emphasizes the importance of trialing these therapies among patients with PLCH-related PH.
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Respir Med Case Rep · Jan 2014
Idiopathic pleuroparenchymatous fibroelastosis: A case report and brief review of the literature.
We describe a patient with idiopathic pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (IPPFE). This rare clinicopathological syndrome is characterized by typical apical alterations op chest imaging, such as pleural thickening and subpleural fibrosis. ⋯ Etiology is unknown but a link between recurrent infections (in particular aspergillosis) and autoimmune diseases is suspected. At this time there is no standardized treatment regimen and the prognosis is variable.
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Respir Med Case Rep · Jan 2013
Swyer-James-MacLeod syndrome with an anomalous origin of coronary artery: Case report.
Swyer-James (Macleod) syndrome was first defined in the 1950s by Swyer, James and Macleod in patients with unilateral hyperlucent lungs. Coronary artery anomalies are congenital anomalies that affect a small part of the population. ⋯ The incidence of a left coronary artery arising from the right coronary sinus Valsalva has been reported as 0.017%, and 1.3% among coronary artery anomalies. We hereby present this case since the case was diagnosed in adult age and was accompanied by a rare congenital heart disease.
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Respir Med Case Rep · Jan 2013
Broncho pleuro subcutaneous fistula with subcutaneous emphysema: A rare presentation of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Subcutaneous tissue emphysema is observed in a several clinical settings but spontaneous subcutaneous emphysema in the absence of pneumothorax with broncho pleuro subcutaneous fistula is rare. We report a case of spontaneous subcutaneous emphysema secondary to cavitary pulmonary tuberculosis in the absence of pneumothorax.
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Respir Med Case Rep · Jan 2013
Catastrophic respiratory failure from tuberculosis pneumonia: Survival after prolonged extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support.
Tuberculosis (TB) is an uncommon cause of severe respiratory failure, even in highly endemic regions. Mortality in cases requiring mechanical ventilation (MV) varies between 60 and 90%. The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is not frequently needed in TB. ⋯ Percutaneous tracheostomy was performed and the patient remained connected until her transfer to her base hospital at day 59 of admission to our unit. The tracheostomy was removed prior to hospital discharge, and the patient is today at home. Prolonged ECMO support is a useful and potentially successful tool in catastrophic respiratory failure caused by TB.