Imaging
Those who care for patients with pulmonary, critical care or sleep disorders rely heavily on chest radiology and pathology to determine diagnoses. The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep publishes case-based articles with characteristic chest imaging and related pathology.
The editor of this section will oversee and coordinate the publication of a core of the most important chest imaging topics. In doing so, they encourage the submission of unsolicited manuscripts. It cannot be overemphasized that both radiologic and pathologic images must be of excellent quality. As a rule, 600 DPI is sufficient for radiographic and pathologic images. Taking pictures of plain chest radiographs and CT scans with a digital camera is strongly discouraged. The figures should be cited in the text and numbered consecutively. The stain used for pathology specimens and magnification should be mentioned in the figure legend. Those who care for patients with pulmonary, critical care or sleep disorders rely heavily on chest radiology and pathology to determine diagnoses. The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep publishes case-based articles with characteristic chest imaging and related pathology. The editor of this section will oversee and coordinate the publication of a core of the most important chest imaging topics. In doing so, they encourage the submission of unsolicited manuscripts. It cannot be overemphasized that both radiologic and pathologic images must be of excellent quality. As a rule, 600 DPI is sufficient for radiographic and pathologic images. Taking pictures of plain chest radiographs and CT scans with a digital camera is strongly discouraged. The figures should be cited in the text and numbered consecutively. The stain used for pathology specimens and magnification should be mentioned in the figure legend.
Medical Image of the Week: Severe Atelectasis with Tracheal Shift
Figure 1. Panel A: Initial chest x-ray shows left lower lobe collapse due to mucus plugging and atelectasis with a significant shift of the trachea to the left (arrow). Panel B: Follow up chest x-ray shows marked improvement in aeration of the left lung and return of the trachea to midline (arrow).
A 59-year-old woman with severe oxygen dependent COPD presented with acute respiratory distress requiring intubation and was found to have left lower lobe collapse with tracheal shift. Her past medical history consists of severe malnutrition, alcohol abuse, and emphysema with recurrent pneumonias associated with acute respiratory failure often requiring intubation. She has greater than a 50-pack year history of tobacco use. She has undergone bronchoscopy and multiple CT Chest imaging without evidence of an endobronchial lesion or malignancy. Postural drainage and percussion along with antibiotics and inhaled bronchodilators resulted in marked improvement in the left lower lobe.
Ishna Poojary MD, Janet Campion MD
University of Arizona Medical Center
Tucson, AZ
Reference as: Poojary I, Campion J. Medical image of the week: severe atelectasis with tracheal shift. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2014;9(3):160. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc115-14 PDF