[Aspiration pneumonia caused by vertebrae of a dove in a 39 year old patient with Down syndrome].
Undetected foreign body aspiration is a well-known problem not only in children and patients with predisposing conditions like mental retardation, seizures or brain tumours, but also in healthy subjects. The clinical signs are quite different. Haemoptysis, cough, recurrent or chronic penumonia and bronchitis may occur. These symptoms are often accompanied by fever, weight loss and night sweat. Atelectasis, respiratory distress or death have been described. We demonstrate the case of a 39-year old man with Down syndrome who was transferred to our hospital because of pneumonia in the left lower lobe that had been lasting for about two months. It had been resistant to several antibiotic regimens. Computerised tomography led to the suspicion of a bronchial carcinoma with poststenotic infiltration of the lower lobe. Fibreoptic bronchoscopy and biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of a foreign body in the distal part of the left main bronchus. After two weeks of treatment with ciprofloxacin regression of the acute inflammation occurred. During a second bronchoscopy we could extract the foreign body (a 1 x 1.7 cm vertebra of a dove). It is concluded that undetected foreign body aspiration can occur in various clinical settings and fibreoptic bronchoscopy is a suitable approach providing an exact diagnosis.
Müller
R
R
Abteilung Innere Medizin, St.-Carolus-Krankenhaus Görlitz.
Schmidt
M
M
Müller
K M
KM
Breuer
H W
HW
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D010856:Columbidae; D004314:Down Syndrome; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011015:Pneumonia, Aspiration / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D013131:Spine; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Aspirationspneumonie durch Täubchenwirbel bei einem 39jährigen Patienten mit Down-Syndrom.