This is a good example of a pleural effusion.  The upright chest xray shows a fluid level on the right representing a large right pleural effusion.  The patient had a therapeutic thoracentesis and felt much better.

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

Image Contributor:  Carieann Drenten, MD

The xray shows diffuse interstitial infiltrates concerning for an atypical pneumonia.  The patient had several weeks of weight loss, fatigue, fevers and he had profound hypoxia into the 40s on room air.  The differential diagnosis in this situation is broad and can include common atypical bacterial pneumonia organisms (Mycoplasma, chlamydia sp, legionella, etc).  ARDS can present like this with diffuse infiltrates and hypoxia.  Influenza is also on the list of pathology.  However, the significant hypoxia also brought up Pneumocystis Jiroveci pneumonia.  An LDH was added and came back at 439 U/L (normally <200).  The patient was empirically covered with common community-acquired antibiotics plus TMP/SMX, steroids for PJP and admitted to the hospital.  His CD4 count came back 10 and a broncheoalveolar was positive on immunofluroescence testing for Pneumocystis Jiroveci.

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

Image Contributor:  James Chenoweth, MD

What are the concerning features of this Chest Xray and what would be on your differential diagnosis?

Answer to follow.

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

Image Contributor:  James Chenoweth, MD

Overlying the cardiac silhouette is a pair of wires for an epicardial pacemaker.  The patient had a coronary artery bypass graft procedure several years ago and required an epicardial pacemaker in the postoperative period.  The leads were left in and the pacemaker is now gone.  The wires are unique to this type of pacemaker as they have the button-like attachment to the epicardial surface.  They are typically used in the postoperative period and are indicated for temporary use; their function deteriorates in a matter of days to weeks (1).

The wires were somewhat confusing to our treatment team until we reviewed his chart and did a little internet searching!

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

References

1.  Batra AS, Seshadri B.  Postoperative temporary epicardial pacing:  When, how, and why?  Ann Ped Card 2008, 1(2): 120-125. 

This patient has a lot of hardware in his chest.

1. He has a tracheostomy present
2. Surgical clips can be seen on the aortic arch
3. This is an artificial aortic valve
4. Sternal wires for closure after his aortic valve replacement

Here is a link to an interesting image the New England Journal of Medicine published in 2005 that shows a person with replacements in all 4 valves:

Four Valver!

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

References

Bijl M, van den Brink R.  Images in Clinical Medicine:  Four Artificial Heart Valves.  N Engl J Med 2005; 353: 712

This was an interesting case because of the post-intubation conundrum we faced.  The patient came in peri-arrest from hypoxia, GCS was 3 with very poor respiratory effort and oxygen saturation of 60%.  Therefore we were unable to get a great respiratory exam prior to intubation.  Bag-valve mask ventilation with 100% oxygen did not improve the situation and the patient was very difficult to bag due to obviously increased airway pressure.  The intubation was very difficult and as we were checking for bilateral breath sounds post-intubation, we noticed none on the left side.  Capnography color change was good, no gastric sounds were heard, and moisture was in the tube.  Pulling back the endotracheal tube did not change the lack of left sided lung sounds.  The patient continued to be difficult to bag with hypoxia very slowly improving from initial saturations in the 60s now to the mid-70s.  At this point all of our heart rates were around 150 and we had that sinking feeling that occurs when oxygenation doesn’t improve after intubation.

For a few minutes we were concerned about pneumothorax on the left side.  As you can tell from the xray our external landmarks such as tracheal deviation, jugular venous distention were severely limited by body habitus.  Bedside ultrasound using the linear probe was limited as well and no lung-sliding was visualized.  We basically couldn’t identify what we were seeing on ultrasound (later we found out the lung was completely collapsed and we may have been seeing diaphragm, heart, and non-aerated lung).  In the heat-of-the-moment the ED treatment team was perplexed on how to rule out a tension pneumothorax in this situation.

Luckily the patient’s oxygenation creeped above 90% and the patient didn’t have any blood pressure problems.  We took a deep breath, relaxed, and made the decision to obtain the above portable chest xray before performing empiric thoracostomy.  This turned out to be the correct decision as she had a complete obstruction of the left mainstem bronchus from aspiration of a peanut-butter sandwich.  CT chest (above) shows the obstruction at the level of the carina with collapse of the left lung.  Bronchoscopy was performed and a large amount of peanut butter, jelly, and sandwich fragments were removed with improvement in the patient’s chest xray post-procedure.

Moral of the story:  not all patients have pneumothorax or a malpositioned endotracheal tube when lung sounds are absent.

A brief alternative differential diagnosis when a patient has absent lung sounds on one side:

1. Mainstem bronchus obstruction or compression
2. Diaphragmatic hernia
3. Large pleural effusion
4. History of pneumonectomy

I’ve noticed a trend in ED training toward increased reliance on bedside ultrasound.  It is important to realize that if you are going to use ultrasound in the resuscitation decisions such as this, make sure that you are seeing something that reliably indicates the pathology you are seeking to correct.  We did not see signs that supported or refuted pneumothorax and thus the ultrasound was non-diagnostic.  I apologize for not having the ultrasound images.  We forgot to save them as we all had that panicked feeling when you’ve intubated someone and their pulse ox isn’t improving very fast!

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

This Chest Xray demonstrates a large pneumothorax on the right side with tension phenomena.  Tension Pneumothorax is when the air trapped in the pleural space places pressure on the mediastinal structures and you see a shift of the mediastinum in the opposite direction.

Physiologically this means that the anatomy has changed and blood flow back to the central circulation is limited by not only mechanical obstruction but increased intrathoracic pressure.

After thoracostomy:

Remember, tension pneumothorax is one of the 5h’s and 5T’s that cause cardiac arrest.  However, its unclear if this is a post CPR pneumothorax or if this was the cause of the cardiac arrest.  You can see some deformities suspicious for rib fractures mid-way down the right lung fields.  There was no indication of trauma in the patient’s presentation so these may be old or a complication of chest compressions…this could be a source of pneumothorax as well as the positive-pressure from endotracheal intubation.  Incidentally, the chest tube is inserted slightly far with kinking in the upper lung but it appears to be working with reexpansion and relief of the tension phenomena.

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

Image Contributor:  Ryan Hunt, MD

The interesting portion of this radiograph is the overall hyperinflation of the right lung when compared to the left.  With this clinical history, asymmetric hyperinflation is highly concerning for aspirated foreign body.  The foreign body acts as a “ball-valve,” trapping air on exhalation and therefore causing a hyperinflated lung.  It can, but often doesn’t lead to pneumothorax. 

In this case the asymmetry was visible on upright radiograph and the diagnosis of retained foreign body was made.  The child had a bronchoscopy and an apple fragment was pulled out of his right mainstem bronchus. 

Other imaging tricks in aspiration include decubitus films and expiratory films. 

1.  Expiratory films:  have the patient expire and take a plain upright radiograph.  This may accentuate the asymmetry if the ball-valve effect is causing air trapping.

2.  Decubitus films:  When laying on one’s side the dependent lung should be asymmetrically smaller than the opposing lung.  If one of the lungs stays symmetric while in the dependent position, this can be a sign of air trapping.  It is recommended to obtain films in both decubitus positions (left and right).

Also consider CT imaging as a final imaging modality.  However, the definitive study is bronchoscopy if your suspicion is high. 

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

Image Contributor:  Kendra Grether-Jones, MD

In this image the left heart border is obscured and there is an infiltrate taking up airspace in the left lower lung.  That’s it, nothin’ fancy about it.

The symptoms of pneumonia described by Hippocrates (c. 460 BC – 370 BC) (1):

Peripneumonia, and pleuritic affections, are to be thus observed: If the fever be acute, and if there be pains on either side, or in both, and if expiration be if cough be present, and the sputa expectorated be of a blond or livid color, or likewise thin, frothy, and florid, or having any other character different from the common… When pneumonia is at its height, the case is beyond remedy if he is not purged, and it is bad if he has dyspnoea, and urine that is thin and acrid, and if sweats come out about the neck and head, for such sweats are bad, as proceeding from the suffocation, rales, and the violence of the disease which is obtaining the upper hand.

Begs the question:  what does “purged” mean?

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

References

1.  Pneumonia History. 
http://www.news-medical.net/health/Pneumonia-History.aspx

This is a great example of a right middle lobe (RML) pneumonia.  Some features that help distinguish the lobe include:

The right diaphragm is visible.  The lobe overlying the diaphragm is the lower lobe and a RML will sometimes not “silhouette” the right diaphragm.  ”Silhouette” is when a radiographically dense material such as fluid comes into contact with another radiodense thoracic structure such as the diaphragm.  Silhouetting can be seen with the right heart border.  Thus, this fluid on the xray is touching the right heart border but not the diaphragm.  The lobe that corresponds with this is the RML.

A lateral radiograph can also help you identify which lobe is involved (not provided here).

Author:  Russell Jones, MD