Pleurisy is the inflammation of the tissues that line the lungs and chest cavities. This is also called Pleuritis. This causes sharp chest pain that is worse when breathing. Multiple underlying conditions can cause pleurisy to take place. I causes the death of Benjamin
Franklin. Pleurisy cases are not as common today due to treatments such as antibiotics that treat the infection before it is able to progress to a fatal condition. Most of the cases involving pleurisy are due to a viral infection and it is rare to cause death. Viruses can cause infections in the lung. Different causes of pleurisy include: bacterial pneumonia, bronchitis, tuberculosis, chest or lung tumors, rib fractures, pulmonary emboli, immune system disorders and the list goes on.
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This pain is alleviated when holding your breath or applying pressure to the chest. The pain will generally worsen when coughing, sneezing or moving. Chills, fever and a loss of appetite are subsequent symptoms, depending on the cause of the pleurisy. Pleurisy symptoms include: shallow breathing (to avoid feeling pain), pain in shoulders and back, shortness of breath, muscle aches and headache. Pleurisy causes a buildup of fluid in the lungs that makes them stop working correctly. This is called pleural effusion. This causes shortness of breath with the increase of fluid, also known as empyema.
Chest x-rays allow the doctor to determine if there is any inflammation in the lungs.
Blood tests also determine if there is any infection and the cause of the infection if you have one. They also reveal if you have an immune system disorder. Your doctor will order a thoracentesis which is the insertion of a needle into the area of your chest where imaging has shown it to be present and remove it from the area to analyze it for the presence
for the presence of infection. Considering its invasive nature, this test is not
R.S. has chronic bronchitis. According to the UC San Francisco Medical Center “Chronic bronchitis is a common type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in which the air passages in the lungs — the bronchi — are repeatedly inflamed, leading to scarring of the bronchi walls. As a result, excessive amounts of sticky mucus are produced and fill the bronchial tubes, which become thickened, impeding normal airflow through the lungs.” (Chronic Bronchitis 2015) There are many things that can be observed as clinical findings. R.S. will have a chronic cough that has lasted from 3 months to two years or more, and a lot of sputum. The sputum is due to
Ø Amount of rainfall that runs down the tree. If it is too much, it
A tension pneumothorax can be caused by a blunt or penetrating trauma, in the case study provided it would be a blunt trauma. The trauma to the chest area causes damage to the plural cavity; either the visceral (lines either lung) or parietal plura (lines the thoracic wall), or can be caused by trauma to the traceobronchial tree (Daley, 2014). The trauma to the chest area causes the formation of a one-way-valve, this allows for the air to flow into the plural space on inhalation, but on exhalation cannot be expelled (Curtis, Ramsden, & Lord, 2011). As the trapped air in the lungs build up within the affected side it can cause serious complications.
requiered to determine treatment. Lab tests or imaging is often requiered as well. It’s chronic,
Symptoms and signs of possible severe illness (such as unusual lethargy, uncontrolled coughing, irritability, persistent crying, difficult breathing, wheezing, or other unusual signs)- until medical evaluation allows inclusion;
Valley fever can cause many different symptoms. The infection mainly affects the lungs. Many of the symptoms resemble symptoms o...
Black lung disease can be diagnosed by checking a patient’s history for exposure to the coal dust, followed by a chest x-ray to see if the characteristic spots on the lungs are present. A pulmonary function test may help in the diagnosis. However, all coalminer’s should have chest x-rays every four years so the disease can be detected early.
In normal breathing, the lungs expand and contract easily and rhythmically within the ribcage. To facilitate this movement and lubricate the moving parts, each lung is enveloped in a moist, smooth, two-layered membrane (the pleura). The outer layer of this membrane lines the ribcage, and between the layers is a virtually imperceptible space (the pleural space), which permits the layers to glide gently across each other. If either of your pleurae becomes inflamed and roughened, the gliding process is impeded and you are suffering from pleurisy. Pleurisy is actually a symptom of an underlying disease rather than a disease in itself. The pleurae may become inflamed as a complication of a lung or chest infection such as pneumonia or tuberculosis, or the inflammation may be caused by a slight pneumothorax or chest injury. The pleural inflammation sometimes creates a further complication by causing fluid to seep into the pleural space, resulting in a condition known as pleural effusion. However, pleurisy is not the only condition that can lead to pleural effusion, it may also be produced by diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, liver or kidney trouble or heart failure. Even cancer spreading from the lung, breast or ovary can cause pleural effusion. If you have pleurisy, it hurts to breathe deeply or cough, and chest pain is likely to be severe. Accompanying the pain are any other symptoms associated with the underlying disorder. The pain will disappear if a pleural effusion occurs as a consequence of pleurisy, because fluid stops the layers of the pleura from rubbing against each other; however, you may become breathless as the fluid accumulates. In most cases, the risks are those of the underlying cause. A big pleural effusion can compress the lungs and cause breathlessness. Any effusion may lead to empyema. A chest X-ray examination may be required.
Chronic bronchitis is a disorder that causes inflammation to the airway, mainly the bronchial tubules. It produces a chronic cough that lasts three consecutive months for more than two successive years (Vijayan,2013). Chronic Bronchitis is a member of the COPD family and is prominently seen in cigarette smokers. Other factors such as air pollutants, Asbestos, and working in coal mines contributes to inflammation. Once the irritant comes in contact with the mucosa of the bronchi it alters the composition causing hyperplasia of the glands and producing excessive sputum (Viayan,2013). Goblet cells also enlarge to contribute to the excessive secretion of sputum. This effects the cilia that carry out the mechanism of trapping foreign bodies to allow it to be expelled in the sputum, which are now damaged by the irritant making it impossible for the person to clear their airway. Since the mechanism of airway clearance is ineffective, the secretion builds up a thickened wall of the bronchioles causing constriction and increasing the work of breathing. The excessive build up of mucous could set up pneumonia. The alveoli are also damaged enabling the macrophages to eliminate bacteria putting the patient at risk for acquiring an infection.
in the differential diagnosis of my patient as he is complaining of chest pain. This disease results from inflammation of the pericardium which is a tough sac that covers the heart and the base of the vessels (Tingle, Molina & Calvert, 2007).
However, with pulmonary edema the alveoli fill with fluid instead of air. Pulmonary edema is the ending result of abnormal build-up of fluid leads to shortness of breath. The term edema itself generally means swelling. This can happen either because of too much pressure in the blood vessels or not enough proteins in the bloodstream to hold on to the fluid in the plasma; the part of the blood that does not contain any blood cells (Medicinenet). This lung condition is usually caused by a number of cardiac and non-cardiac conditions such as: Coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, heart valve problems, high blood pressure, acute respiratory distress syndrome, high altitudes, nervous system conditions, adverse drug reactions, pulmonary embolism, and smoke inhalation (Brunner 2015). These many conditions are all health related problems that should be examined by a
Imaging tests. Imaging tests usually aren’t necessary, but in some instances, especially when no evidence of infection is found, They may be helpful. For example, an X-ray or ultrasound may help out other potential causes inflammation, such as a tumor or structure
After you’re infected symptoms can start 4 to 21 days but usually occur between 7 to 14 days and can last 6 to 10 weeks or sometimes even longer. In young children there are 3 stages that can occur, not necessarily the same stages for older children and adults. The first stage symptoms are more like the common cold which include runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing, red or watery eyes, a mild fever, and a dry cough. These symptoms can last from several days to 2 weeks and at this stage is when you are more likely to spread the disease. Stage two is when your cold symptoms will start to improve but the cough will worsen. The cough gets so uncontrollable tha...
stains on sputum’s and body fluids, and have completed a few AFB cultures. Apart from
Pneumonia in the elderly is something that needs to be taken very seriously in this day and age. According to the Center Of Disease Control, statistics say that over 800 million seniors above the age of 65 are at risk for pneumonia. They also say that 1 out of 20 adults that get pneumonia die. What is pneumonia? “Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs that can be caused by fungi, virus, bacteria, and many other germs,” says Dr. Norman Edelman, the chief medical officer for the American Lung Association. What this infection causes is inflammation of the lungs; more specifically, this is inflammation of the alveoli which results in fluid in the alveoli sacs. The alveoli is where the oxygen transfer to the blood takes place, so with the inflammation, it makes it hard for the individual to breath or do any physical activity. This paper will be covering the signs and symptoms to watch for, how to go about getting it diagnosed, treatment and what to expect, preventative measures, different types of causative agents, and if left untreated the type of complications to expect from pneumonia.