Respiratory Flashcards
A 60-year-old man presents with acute onset of shortness of breath, fever, and cough. A chest x-ray shows a right lower lobe infiltrate, and sputum has gram-positive diplococci. He is given intravenous antibiotics but his respiratory status declines over 24 hours. He becomes hypotensive and is transferred to the intensive care unit. He is intubated for hypoxaemia and requires vasopressors for septic shock despite adequate volume resuscitation. He requires high levels of inspired oxygen (FiO₂) and positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) on the ventilator to keep his oxygen saturation >90%. Repeat chest x-ray shows bilateral alveolar infiltrates, and his PaO₂/FiO₂ ratio is 109.
ARDS
A 67-year-old retired construction worker has shortness of breath with activity that has been gradually getting worse, and a chronic cough. He denies chest pain. He has a 45-pack-year smoking history, but stopped smoking aged 50 years. There is no family history of lung disease. He does not take any respiratory medicine on a regular basis. With colds he has noticed wheezing and his doctor once prescribed an inhaler.
Asbestosis
A 55-year-old factory maintenance worker falls at work. A CXR is performed to evaluate the patient for a possible broken rib. Bilateral pleural thickening is seen on CXR. Further history indicates he is very active without any respiratory symptoms. He smokes 20 cigarettes a day. There is no family history of lung disease. He does not take any respiratory medicine.
Asbestosis
A 72-year-old man presents to his primary care physician with a history of increasing shortness of breath over a period of several months. Before his retirement he was a construction worker. Physical examination reveals decreased breath sounds in the right lung base associated with dullness to percussion.
Mesothelioma (N.B. related to asbestos exposure)
A 65-year-old man underwent induction chemotherapy for recently diagnosed acute myelogenous leukaemia. Antimicrobial prophylaxis included norfloxacin, fluconazole, and aciclovir. During chemotherapy-induced neutropenia, he received empirical antibiotic therapy for the fever without an obvious source of infection. Blood cultures were negative and fever subsided. During the third week of neutropenia, fever recurred with dry cough and left-sided pleuritic pain. Physical examination demonstrated no significant abnormalities. Blood cultures remained negative. CXR was normal. However, a high-resolution CT scan of his chest revealed a 2 cm peripheral nodule with a surrounding ‘halo’ sign in the left upper lobe.
Aspergillosis
A 67-year-old man with COPD presents with recent changes in his CXR. He has shortness of breath that has not changed from his baseline status. On examination, he is afebrile with clinical evidence of chronic lung disease. The CXR reveals a right upper lobe cavitary lesion with an intracavitary mass and adjacent pleural thickening.
Aspergillosis
A 25-year-old woman presents with shortness of breath. She reported that in high school, she occasionally had shortness of breath and would wheeze after running. She experiences the same symptoms when she visits her friend who has a cat. Her symptoms have progressively worsened over the past year and are now a constant occurrence. She also finds herself wheezing when waking from sleep approximately twice a week.
Asthma
A 27-year-old woman with a history of moderate persistent asthma presents to the emergency department with progressive worsening of shortness of breath, wheezing, and cough over 3 days. She reports prior exposure to a person who had a runny nose and a hacking cough. She did not receive significant relief from her rescue inhaler and experienced worsening symptoms, despite increased use. She has been compliant with her maintenance asthma regimen, which consists of an inhaled corticosteroid and a leukotriene receptor antagonist for maintenance therapy and salbutamol as rescue therapy. Her cough is disrupting her sleep pattern and as a consequence she is experiencing daytime somnolence, which is affecting her job performance.
Acute exacerbation of asthma
A 55-year-old woman presents for evaluation of a chronic cough, productive of thick, yellow sputum that sometimes becomes blood-tinged. She has experienced recurrent episodes of fever associated with pleuritic chest pain. She states that she is embarrassed by the persistent, intractable nature of her cough and has been prescribed multiple courses of antibiotics. Over the last 5 years, she has developed shortness of breath with exertion. Her past medical history is significant for pneumonia as a child and sinus polyps during adulthood for which she has had surgery.
Bronchiectasis
A 66-year-old man with a smoking history of one pack per day for the past 47 years presents with progressive shortness of breath and chronic cough, productive of yellowish sputum, for the past 2 years. On examination he appears cachectic and in moderate respiratory distress, especially after walking to the examination room, and has pursed-lip breathing. His neck veins are mildly distended. Lung examination reveals a barrel chest and poor air entry bilaterally, with moderate inspiratory and expiratory wheezing. Heart and abdominal examination are within normal limits. Lower extremities exhibit scant pitting oedema.
COPD
A 56-year-old woman with a history of smoking presents to her primary care physician with shortness of breath and cough for several days. Her symptoms began 3 days ago with rhinorrhoea. She reports a chronic morning cough productive of white sputum, which has increased over the past 2 days. She has had similar episodes each winter for the past 4 years. She has smoked 1 to 2 packs of cigarettes per day for 40 years and continues to smoke. She denies haemoptysis, chills, or weight loss and has not received any relief from over-the-counter cough preparations.
COPD
A 38-year-old man presents with fever of 38.5°C (101.2°F), chills, myalgias, non-productive cough, and dyspnoea. Other than tachypnoea, tachycardia, and bibasilar rales, the rest of the physical examination is normal. He reports that this happens almost every month the day after he cleans out the bird cages in which he keeps the pigeons that he breeds and races.
Extrinsic allergic alveolitis (=hypersensitivity pneumonitis)
A 65-year-old man presents with gradually progressive dyspnoea on exertion and a non-productive cough. He has no history of underlying lung disease and no features that would suggest an alternative aetiology for his cough and dyspnoea. He has no history of joint inflammation, skin rashes, or other features of a systemic inflammatory disease such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. He is on no medications and has no environmental exposures to organic allergens such as mould. On examination, he has fine crackles audible over his lung bases bilaterally but no evidence of volume overload. He has clubbing of his fingers.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
A 72-year-old man with a history of cigarette smoking presents with mild shortness of breath. He is treated initially with inhaled bronchodilators for a presumed diagnosis of chronic obstructive lung disease but has no symptomatic improvement. PFTs are performed and show restriction rather than obstruction, and impaired diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide. A follow-up CXR shows prominent bi-basilar interstitial markings.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
A 65-year-old man presents with a 2-month history of a dry persistent cough and 4.5 kg unintentional weight loss. He denies fevers, dyspnoea, sore throat, rhinorrhoea, chest pain, or haemoptysis. Past medical history is significant for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension. Family history is non-contributory. He smoked 1 pack of cigarettes daily for 40 years but quit 5 years ago. No adenopathy was palpable on examination and breath sounds were diminished globally without focal wheezes or rales.
Lung cancer
