scholarly journals Diagnostic Challenges of Pneumocystis Pneumonia during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case of a Young Patient with Ground Glass Opacities and Pulmonary Embolism on Chest CT

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
William Lim ◽  
Maham Suhail ◽  
Keith Diaz

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is wreaking havoc across the globe. This pandemic has given rise to a mindset where physicians tend to neglect other causes of pneumonia, especially if the patient presents with signs and symptoms commonly associated with COVID-19. Herein, we report a case of a young man presenting to the emergency department with common clinical, radiological, and laboratory features of COVID-19 pneumonia such as shortness of breath, hypoxia, pulmonary embolism, elevated D-dimer, and bilateral ground glass opacities on computed tomography of the chest but was later diagnosed with Pneumocystis pneumonia that was treated with appropriate antibiotics and corticosteroids. This case highlights the importance of performing a thorough clinical history and differentiating the clinical and radiological features of COVID-19 pneumonia from pneumonia of other etiologies.

Blood ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 120 (21) ◽  
pp. 1154-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Ali ◽  
Elizabeth Dilday ◽  
Scott Tagawa ◽  
Naveed H. Akhtar ◽  
Howard A Liebman ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 1154 Background D-dimer is a useful biomarker with a high negative predictive value among patients suspected of having deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). Among cancer patients, d-dimer is associated with DVT, PE and adverse outcomes including death. We have previously shown that patients with PE identified incidentally on routine cancer staging CT scans are frequently symptomatic, especially with fatigue and shortness of breath, and have adverse outcomes similar to cancer patients with suspected PE. It is not known if d-dimer levels among cancer patients with unsuspected PE (UPE) are similar to those in cancer patients with suspected PE or whether d-dimer levels correlate with symptoms or PE location. Methods We analyzed data from a prospective, single arm Phase II, IRB-approved clinical trial in which serial high sensitive D-dimer assays were performed in cancer patients diagnosed with DVT/PE and treated with a low molecular weight heparin (tinzaparin 175 units/kg). PE location was determined based on the most proximal segment of the pulmonary vasculature affected (main, lobar, segmental and subsegmental from most to least proximal). We also recorded signs and symptoms reported to the physician or nurse at the time of the PE diagnosis including tachycardia, hypoxia, fatigue, shortness of breath, dyspnea on exertion, cough, and chest pain. We used analysis of variance and linear regression models to evaluate the association between baseline clinical characteristics and baseline, pre-treatment d-dimer levels. We included log transformed d-dimer levels in all the models and report geometric means and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results Among 91 treated patients, 62 had PE, of which 47 (75.8%) were UPE. The majority of patients (67%) had genitourinary tract or gastrointestinal tract malignancies, with the remainder having lung (n=11), pancreatic (n=7), or other (n=12) malignancies. Mean d-dimer levels at baseline were not significantly different between patients with UPE (mean 2377 ng/mL; 95% CI 1775–3182) and patients with suspected PE (mean 3694 ng/mL; 95% CI 2448–5574; p=0.11). Among signs and symptoms, only fatigue was significantly associated with higher d-dimer levels (d-dimer without fatigue: mean 1827 ng/mL, 95% CI 1370–2437 vs. with fatigue: mean 4727 ng/mL, 95% CI 2434–9177, p=0.0002); this association was also true for the subgroup of patients with UPE (p=0.0024). There was no significant association between fatigue and the location of PE. Among all patients with PE, there was a significant association between d-dimer and location of PE, with higher d-dimer levels associating with more proximal clots (p for trend=0.0023). Mean d-dimer levels based on the most proximal pulmonary artery segment involved were as follows: main pulmonary artery, 5198 ng/mL (95% CI 2858–9453); lobar artery, 2241 ng/mL (95% CI 1516–3314); segmental artery, 1816 ng/mL (95% CI 875–3769); and subsegmental, 931 ng/mL (95% CI 444–1951). This trend was also statistically significant when we restricted the analysis to UPE patients (p for trend=0.0005). Conclusion Cancer patients with UPE have elevated d-dimers similar to those found among cancer patients with suspected PE. Moreover, fatigue and more proximal clot location are significantly associated with higher d-dimer levels among cancer patients with UPE. Elevated d-dimers and presence of fatigue should prompt suspicion for PE among cancer patients. Disclosures: Liebman: Sanofi Aventis: Honoraria; Glaxo Smith Kline: Honoraria; Esai: Honoraria; Pfizer: Honoraria. O'Connell:Astex Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria; Celgene: Speakers Bureau; Incyte: Honoraria.


CJEM ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (S1) ◽  
pp. S93-S94
Author(s):  
S. Sharif ◽  
C. Kearon ◽  
M. Eventov ◽  
M. Li ◽  
P. Sneath ◽  
...  

Introduction: Diagnosing pulmonary embolism (PE) can be challenging because the signs and symptoms are often non-specific. Studies have shown that evidence-based algorithms are not always adhered to in the Emergency Department (ED), which leads to unnecessary CT scanning. The pulmonary embolism rule-out criteria (PERC) can identify patients who can be safely discharged from the ED without further investigation for PE. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of the PERC rule in the ED and to compare the rates of testing for PE if the PERC rule was used. Methods: This was a health records review of ED patients investigated for PE at two emergency departments over a two-year period (April 2013-March 2015). Inclusion criteria were ED physician ordered CT pulmonary angiogram, ventilation-perfusion scan, or D-dimer for investigation of PE. Patients under the age of 18 were excluded. PE was considered to be present during the emergency department visit if PE was diagnosed on CT or VQ (subsegmental level or above), or if the patient was subsequently found to have PE or deep vein thrombosis during the next 30 days. Trained researchers extracted anonymized data. The rate of CT/VQ imaging and the negative predictive value was calculated. Results: There were 1,163 patients that were tested for PE and 1,097 patients were eligible for our analysis. Of the total, 330/1,097 (30.1%; 95%CI 27.4-32.3%) had CT/VQ imaging for PE, and 48/1,097 (4.4%; 95%CI 3.3-5.8%) patients were diagnosed with PE. 806/1,097 (73.5%; 95%CI 70.8-76.0%) were PERC positive, and of these, 44 patients had a PE (5.5%; 95%CI 4.1-7.3%). Conversely, 291/1,097 (26.5%; 95%CI 24.0-29.2%) patients were PERC negative, and of these, 4 patients had a PE (1.4%; 95%CI 0.5-3.5%). Of the PERC negative patients, 291/291 (100.0%; 95%CI 98.7-100.0%) had a D-dimer test done, and 33/291 (11.3%; 95%CI 8.2-15.5%) had a CT angiogram. If PERC was used, CT/VQ imaging would have been avoided in 33/1,097 (3%; 95%CI 2.2-4.2%) patients and the D-dimer would have been avoided in 291/1,097 (26.5%; 95%CI 24.0-29.2%) patients. Conclusion: If the PERC rule was used in all patients with suspected PE, fewer patients would have further testing. The false negative rate for the PERC rule was low.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Zhu ◽  
Cheng Chen ◽  
Rongshu Shi ◽  
Bangguo Li

Objectives: To study the correlations of CT scan with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and D-dimer in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019). Methods: From January to March 2020, COVID-19 patients were divided into two groups according to the Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol for Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (trial version 7), with mild and ordinary cases as Group-1 and critical and severe cases as Group-2. The chest CT scan results, hs-CRP, D-dimmer levels of the two groups from admission to discharge were compared by the c2 test or Fisher’s exact test. The quantitative data were represented as mean ± standard deviation (±s). Intergroup comparisons were performed by the independent samples t test, and the ineligible data were subjected to the nonparametric rank sum test. Binary logistic regression model was used for multivariate correlation analysis, using independent variables that were significant in univariate analysis. The correlations between the above indices were analyzed. Results: In Group-1, there were two cases of normal chest CT scan results, one case of fibrosis, and 25 cases of abnormalities during the first diagnosis, mainly manifested as single or scattered ground-glass shadows. After treatment, the CT scan results became normal. The chest CT scan of Group-2 showed abnormalities, including 21 cases of multiple ground-glass shadows, and six cases of multiple consolidations accompanied by ground-glass shadows, who were critically ill and died. In addition, there were 16 cases of multiple ground glass shadows with partial consolidation, and the CRP and D-dimer levels of Group-2 were significantly higher than those of Group-1. Chest CT scan results were significantly positively correlated with CRP and D-dimer levels (P<0.05). Conclusion: The chest CT scan results of COVID-19 patients are characteristic, being correlated with CRP and D-dimer levels. D-dimer and CRP levels significantly increase in most severe and critical patients, which are closely related to their prognosis. The indices may play predictive roles in clinical treatment and prognosis evaluation. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.6.2961 How to cite this:Zhu J, Chen C, Shi R, Li B. Correlations of CT scan with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and D-dimer in patients with coronavirus disease 2019. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(6):1397-1401. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.6.2961 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanan Guo ◽  
Wenwu Sun ◽  
Yanli Liu ◽  
Yanling Lv ◽  
Su Zhao ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Pulmonary embolism is a severe condition prone to misdiagnosis given its nonspecific signs and symptoms. Previous studies on the pneumonia outbreak caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) showed a number of patients with elevated d-dimer, whether those patients combined with pulmonary embolism got our attention. Methods Data on clinical manifestations, laboratory and radiological findings, treatment, and disease progression of 19 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia,who completed computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) during hospitalization in the Central Hospital of Wuhan from January 2 to March 26, 2020, were reviewed. Results Of the 19 suspected pulmonary embolism and subjected to CTPA patients, six were diagnosed with pulmonary embolism. The Wells’ score of the six patients with pulmonary embolism was 0–1, which suggested a low risk of pulmonary embolism. The median level of d-dimers collected at the day before or on the day of CTPA completion in the patients with pulmonary embolism was 18.36 (interquartile range [IQR]: 6.69–61.46) µg/mL, which was much higher than that in the patients without pulmonary embolism (median 9.47 [IQR: 4.22–28.02] µg/mL). Of the 6 patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism, all patients received anticoagulant therapy, 5 of which survived and were discharged and 1 died. Conclusion A potential causal relationship exists between COVID-19 infection and pulmonary embolism, but whether this phenomenon is common remains uncertain. The clinical manifestations of COVID-19 patients who developed pulmonary embolism are similar to those of patients with increased d-dimer alone, prompting a significant challenge on differential diagnoses.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian L. Block ◽  
Tejas Mehta ◽  
Gabriel M. Ortiz ◽  
Sean P. Ferris ◽  
Thienkhai H. Vu ◽  
...  

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) typically presents as an interstitial and alveolar process with ground glass opacities on chest computed tomography (CT). The absence of ground glass opacities on chest CT is thought to have a high negative predictive value for PCP in individuals with AIDS. Here, we report a case of PCP in a man with AIDS who presented to our hospital with subacute shortness of breath and a nonproductive cough. While his chest CT revealed diffuse nodular rather than ground glass opacities, bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage and transbronchial biopsies confirmed the diagnosis of PCP and did not identify additional pathogens. PCP was not the expected diagnosis based on chest CT, but it otherwise fit well with the patient’s clinical and laboratory presentation. In the era of combination antiretroviral therapy, routine prophylaxis for PCP, and increased use of computed tomography, it may be that PCP will increasingly present with nonclassical chest radiographic patterns. Clinicians should be aware of this presentation when selecting diagnostic and management strategies.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Juan Chen ◽  
Jie Qiu ◽  
Biao Wu ◽  
Zhen Ping Wang ◽  
Yang Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract To describe the clinical and radiological findings of patients confirmed with 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection in Haikou, China. A total of 67 patients confirmed with COVID-19 infection were included in this study. 50 were imported cases. Most infected patients presented with fever and cough. The typical CT findings of lung lesions were bilateral, multifocal lung lesions (52[78%]), with subpleural distribution, and more than two lobes involved (51[78%]). 54 (81%) patients of COVID-19 pneumonia had ground glass opacities. Consolidation was in 30 (45%) patients, crazy paving pattern or interlobular thickening in 17 (25%), adjacent pleura thickening in 23 (34%) patients. Additionally, baseline chest CT did not reveal positive CT findings in 7 patients (23%), but 3 patients presented unilateral ground glass opacities at follow-up. Importantly, the follow-up CT findings were fitted well with the clinical outcomes.


2021 ◽  
pp. emermed-2020-210688
Author(s):  
Teodoro Marcianò ◽  
Stefano Franchini

BackgroundDiagnosis of venous thromboembolism (VTE) requires chest CT angiography for pulmonary embolism and venous ultrasound for deep vein thrombosis. To reduce imaging, guidelines recommend D-dimer levels to rule-out VTE in patients with a low pre-test probability. The most widely used D-dimer cut-off is 500 ng/mL. This cut-off has low specificity, meaning many patients without disease require imaging.MethodsIn this retrospective chart review, we evaluated the diagnostic performance of the D-dimer/fibrinogen ratio (DFR) for identifying thromboembolism and compared it to the performance of two different D-dimer cut-offs (500 ng/mL and 1000 ng/mL) in patients who underwent a chest CT angiography or a venous ultrasound in the ED of San Raffaele Hospital, Italy, in 2017. Patients had a retrospective Wells score calculated after chart review, identifying both high-risk and low-risk pre-test probability patients for this study and low probability patients were further stratified into low-risk of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism.ResultsEnrolled patients included 92 with suspected pulmonary embolism and 154 with suspected deep vein thrombosis; of whom 67 (27%) were diagnosed with VTE. The most accurate cut-off for DFR in terms of discriminative power was 2.65. In the whole sample and in low-risk patients, this cut-off had the same sensitivity values of the 500 ng/mL D-dimer cut-off (97% (95% CI: 89.8% to 99.2%)), while slightly lower sensitivity values were found for the 1000 ng/mL D-dimer cut-off (95.5% (95% CI: 87.6% to 98.5%)). Specificity was higher for the 2.65 DFR cut-off (55.3% (95% CI: 48.0% to 62.4%)) in the whole sample compared with both 500 ng/mL D-dimer cut-off (22.9% (95% CI: 17.4% to 29.6%)) and 1000 ng/mL D-dimer cut-off (45.8% (95% CI: 38.7% to 53.1%)). Similar results were found in all subgroups.ConclusionA DFR, with a cut-off of 2.65, may improve the specificity for VTE patients when compared with D-dimer alone in high-risk VTE emergency medicine populations. This is exploratory information only, needing evaluation in prospective, multicentre studies, prior to consideration for use in routine clinical work.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostafa A. Abolfotouh ◽  
Khaled Almadani ◽  
Mohammed A. Al Rowaily

Abstract Background. Pulmonary embolism (PE) diagnosis can sometimes be challenging due to the disease having nonspecific signs and symptoms at the time of presentation. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the validity of the D-dimer in combination with the revised Geneva score (RGS) in prediction of Pulmonary embolism.Methods. This is a retrospective study of 2010 patients with suspected PE who had undergone both D-dimer testing followed by chest CT angiography (CTPA). The predictive accuracy of D-dimer, adjusted D-dimer and the revised Geneva score were calculated. ROC curve was applied to allocate the optimum RGS cutoff for PE prediction.Results. Of all patients, the mean age was 52.2±20.2 years, two-thirds (65.1%) were females, with previous history of; DVT or PE (2%), surgery and/or fracture of lower limb (6.9%), active malignant conditions (14.4%), unilateral lower limb pain (0.6%), and hemoptysis (0.7%).The overall prevalence of PE was 16%. It was 0% in the low, 25.8% in intermediate and 88.9% in high clinical probability categories of RGS. Both conventional and age-adjusted D-dimer thresholds showed significant level of agreement (kappa=0.081, p<0.001), high sensitivity (94% & 92.8%), high NPV (91.2% & 91.4%), low specificity (12.3% & 15.3) and low PPV (17.5% & 17.8%), respectively. Combination of the age-adjusted D-dimer threshold and RGS at a cut-off of 5 points would provide 100% sensitivity and 61.7% specificity 34.1% PPV, 100% NPV and 0.87 AUC. At a RGS cutoff <5 points, PE could be have been excluded in 64.2% of patients with an abnormal age-adjusted D-dimer threshold without further imaging.Conclusion. Conventional and age-adjusted D-dimer tests showed high levels of agreement in prediction of PE, high sensitivity and low specificity. RGS has a good performance in PE prediction. Application of a clinical decision rule, using the revised Geneva score, and age adjusted D-dimer threshold could increase the number of patients in whom PE could be excluded without further imaging.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-187
Author(s):  
Dazhi Guo ◽  
◽  
Shuyi Pan ◽  
MaoMao Wang ◽  
Yufeng Guo ◽  
...  

Objective: To determine whether hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) therapy be effective to improve hypoxemia for severe COVID-19 pneumonia patients. Method: Two male patients ages 57 and 64 years old were treated. Each met at least one of the following criteria: shortness of breath; respiratory rate (RR) ≥30 breaths/minute; finger pulse oxygen saturation (SpO2) ≤93% at rest; and oxygen index (P/F ratio: PaO2/FiO2 ≤300 mmHg). Each case excluded any combination with pneumothorax, pulmonary bullae or other absolute contraindications to HBO2. Patients were treated with 1.5 atmospheres absolute HBO2 with an oxygen concentration of more than 95% for 60 minutes per treatment, once a day for one week. Patients’ self-reported symptoms, daily mean SpO2 (SO2), arterial blood gas analysis, d-dimer, lymphocyte, cholinesterase (che) and chest CT were conducted and measured. Results: For both patients, dyspnea and shortness of breath were immediately alleviated after the first HBO2 treatment and remarkably relieved after seven days of HBO2 therapy. The RR also decreased daily. Neither patient became critically ill. The decreasing trend of SO2 and P/F ratio was immediately reversed and increased day by day. The lymphocyte count and ratio corresponding to immune function gradually recovered. D-dimer corresponding to peripheral circulation disorders and serum cholinesterase, reflecting liver function had improved. Follow-up chest CT showed that the pulmonary inflammation had clearly subsided. Conclusions: Our preliminary uncontrolled case reports suggest that HBO2 therapy may promptly improve the progressive hypoxemia of patients with COVID-2019 pneumonia. However, the limited sample size and study design preclude a definitive statement about the potential effectiveness of HBO2 therapy to COVID-2019 pneumonia. It requires evaluation in randomized clinical trials in future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-411
Author(s):  
Won Jung Ha ◽  
Yu Jin Lee ◽  
Geun Young Kim ◽  
Ki-Ho Cho ◽  
Sang-Kwan Moon ◽  
...  

Background: This case report shows the effect of Hyulbuchuko-tang on a patient with a contraindication to anticoagulants who complained about dyspnea caused by pulmonary embolism (PE).Case report: A PE patient with dyspnea was treated with herbal medication, Hyulbuchuko-tang, for 28 days. Evaluations took place by assessing time for oxygen application time per day, follow-up chest CT, and D-dimer test results. Oxygen application time per day decreased, and oxygen therapy ended on the 14th day of Hyulbuchuko-tang treatment. Follow-up chest CT showed resolution of PE. The D-dimer level decreased on the 24th day and decreased more after 1 month later.Conclusion: This clinical case study suggests that Hyulbuchuko-tang might be effective in the resolution of PE and can be an option as a treatment for PE patients with contraindications to anticoagulants.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document