By Kristen Mattei
Faculty Peer Reviewed
I distinctly remember being 9 years old, sitting in my doctor’s office after a cold left me struggling for breath, doubled over and wheezing, when he told me that …
Category: Pulmonary/Critical Care
Clinical Correlations
Does Perioperative Smoking Cessation Improve outcomes?
January 6, 2012
By Benjamin Wu, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
Mr. T is a 53-year-old man, with history significant for cholelithiasis. He decides to have an elective cholecystectomy after years of biliary colic. Mr. T is an …
Mystery Quiz- The Answer
December 14, 2011Vivian Hayashi MD and Robert Smith MD, Mystery Quiz Section Editors
The answer to the mystery quiz is Kaposi’s sarcoma. The CXR shows bilateral confluent airspaceopacities which have a wide differential diagnosis in this case. The CT narrows the differential. Specifically, the opacities appear to emanate from the central hilar …
Mystery Quiz
December 9, 2011Vivian Hayashi MD and Robert Smith MD, Mystery Quiz Section Editors
The patient is a 52 year old African-American man who presented with breathlessness and weight loss over one month along with watery stools during the week prior to admission. He had a history of untreated HIV infection, a CD4 cell …
Mystery Quiz
November 30, 2011Vivian Hayashi MD and Robert Smith MD, Mystery Quiz Section Editors
The patient is a 52 year old African-American man who presented with breathlessness and weight loss over one month along with watery stools during the week prior to admission. He had a history of untreated HIV infection, a CD4 cell …
Does Culturing the Catheter Tip Change Patient Outcomes?
November 17, 2011
By Todd Cutler, MD
Faculty Peer Reviewed
An 82-year-old man is admitted to the intensive care unit with fevers, hypoxic respiratory failure and hypotension. He is intubated and resuscitated with intravenous fluids. A central venous catheter is placed …
Should you Treat a COPD Exacerbation with Antibiotics?
September 3, 2011
By: Aviva Regev
Mr. S is a 68-year old man with longstanding COPD and a 40-pack-year smoking history. He presents to clinic with three days of increasing shortness of breath, and complains that he has been coughing …
Mystery Quiz- The Answer
June 17, 2011Vivian Hayashi MD and Robert Smith MD, Mystery Quiz Section Editors
The answer to the mystery quiz is lymphangitic carcinomatosis (LC). The diffuse interstitial and infiltrative pattern seen on CXR is best appreciated on the CT of the chest. On Images 4, 5 and 6, interlobular septal thickening is apparent (arrow) …