Pulmonary
The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary and Critical Care publishes articles broadly related to pulmonary medicine including thoracic surgery, transplantation, airways disease, pediatric pulmonology, anesthesiolgy, pharmacology, nursing and more. Manuscripts may be either basic or clinical original investigations or review articles. Potential authors of review articles are encouraged to contact the editors before submission, however, unsolicited review articles will be considered.
September 2012 Pulmonary Case of the Month: The War on Drugs
Sudheer Penupolu, MD
Philip J. Lyng, MD
Lewis J. Wesselius, MD
Department of Pulmonary Medicine
Mayo Clinic Arizona
Scottsdale, AZ
History of Present Illness
A 69 year old woman was seen with a three day history of nonproductive cough and shortness of breath.
PMH, SH and FH
She has a past history of atrial fibrillation and hypothyroidism.
Her present medications include:
- Diltiazem
- Amiodarone
- Aspirin
- Levothyroxine
- Multi vitamins
There is a 20 pack-year smoking history but she quit in 1998. She is employed as a law school professor.
Physical Examination
Her physical examination is normal.
Chest X-ray
Her admission chest x-ray is shown in Figure 1.
An electrocardiogram showed normal sinus rhythm.
Which of the following is the most likely cause of the patient’s clinical picture?
Reference as: Penupolu S, Lyng PJ, Wesselius LJ. September 2012 pulmonary case of the month: the war on drugs. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care 2012;5:107-14. (Click here for a PDF version of the article)