January 2015 Pulmonary Case of the Month: More Red Wine, Every Time
Thursday, January 1, 2015 at 8:00AM
Rick Robbins, M.D. in Wegner's granulomatosis, chest x-ray, corticosteroids, cyclophosphamide, diagnosis, diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis, plasma exchange, rituximab, therapy

Uzair Ghori, MD (UGhori@salud.unm.edu)

Shozab Ahmed, MD  (Sahmed@salud.unm.edu)

University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, New Mexico

 

History of Present Illness

A 41-year-old man travelling from Texas to Las Vegas, Nevada presents to the Emergency Room in Albuquerque, New Mexico with petechial rash, photophobia and headache of 2 weeks duration. The patient complains of general malaise, arthralgia, trouble sleeping, shortness of breath associated with cough and intermittent bilateral lower extremity swelling of 3 weeks duration.

PMH, SH & FH

The patient was prescribed lisinopril and metformin for hypertension and diabetes mellitus, respectively. He admitted occasional drinking, smoking a variable quantity for 30 years but currently not smoking. He denied any illicit drug use.

Physical Exam

Vitals: Heart Rate-92, Blood Pressure-116/45 mm Hg, Respiratory Rate-44 breaths/min, Temperature- 37.2ºC, SpO2-98% on non-rebreather mask.

General: His mental status was not altered.

HEENT: No papilledema was appreciated on eye exam.

Neck: JVP not appreciated.

Lungs: he had diminished breath sounds bilaterally on auscultation.

Heart: His heart had a regular rate and rhythm with no murmurs rubs or gallops.

Abdomen: No abdominal distention or lower extremity edema appreciated.

Skin: A petechial rash was noted most prominently in the lower extremities.

Based on the initial presentation the most appropriate investigations would be? (Click on the correct answer to proceed to the 2nd of 6 panels)

  1. CBC, CT head, echocardiogram, blood cultures, metabolic panel, inflammatory markers
  2. CBC, UA, lumbar puncture, chest x-ray, inflammatory markers, metabolic panel
  3. Echocardiogram, CBC, UA, venous blood gases, bronchoscopy, CT head
  4. Stress test, CXR, inflammatory markers, lumbar puncture, ultrasound abdomen, metabolic panel
  5. UA, lumbar Puncture, bronchoscopy, echocardiogram, CT head, inflammatory markers 

Reference as: Ghori U, Ahmed S. January 2015 pulmonary case of the month: more red wine, every time. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2015;10(1):1-7. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc155-14 PDF

Article originally appeared on Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep (https://www.swjpcc.com/).
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