My asthmatic mother's X-ray is negative for TB. What else this could be?

Question

Hello doctor,

My mother has asthma as she used to smoke and live near roads. Her X-ray showed that trachea is in the midline, the cardiac shadow is not enlarged, pulmonary vasculatures are not prominent, hemidiaphragm is flattened, costophrenic sulci are blunted, right lower lung infiltrates present and pneumonia entertain. Please correlate clinically. Emphysematous changes are also considered.

The last X-ray was negative for tuberculosis. She was using Ventolin as nebulizer three to four months back.

Kindly advise.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I have checked the attached report, along with the data you provided (attachment removed to protect patient identity). Your mother has COPD which is a chronic obstructive lung disease due to changes in the lung with age and due to smoking. In COPD the air is entrapped inside the lung with difficulty to get it out, so the oxygenation is impaired. Thus the patient becomes hypoxic with frequent exacerbations in winter with any infection of the lung.

The infiltrates found in the right lung are due to pneumonia. The treatment includes inhalers regularly with antibiotics and long-term home oxygen therapy may be required if certain criteria are found. To identify the stage, I need to see her oxygen saturation in room air and arterial blood gas test.

I hope this helps.

Thank you.

My asthmatic mother's X-ray is negative for TB. What else this could be?

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