Cases Flashcards
A 49 year old woman presents to A&E acutely unwell. She is peripherally shutdown, clammy, tachycardic, hypotensive and acutely dyspnoeic. Her CXR shows bat wing like alveolar shadowing. What is your diagnosis?
Pulmonary oedema
Key words: Bat wings on CXR
A 38 year old woman was admitted to your ward two days ago with abdominal pain and vomiting. She was found to have very high levels of serum amylase. She has been treated with fluids and has had a good urine output. However she is still deteriorating rapidly and is hypoxic. She now has crackles through both lung fields and a blood albumin level of 30mmol/l.
Upon X-ray she has bilateral bats wings.
What is your diagnosis and the cause of your diagnosis?
Pulmonary oedema caused by acute respiratory distress syndrome. This is normally caused by severe illness or trauma. This patients underlying cause is acute pancreatitis.
