Cases Blog
Hydrocarbon pneumonitis caused by fire-eating
Efrosni Myloniki and colleagues, from Thessaloniki in Greece, report a case of a 16-year old boy presenting with dyspnea, cough, chest pain and fever after fire-eating at a party.
A chest radiograph showed infiltration in the right middle lobe which was diagnosed as aspiration pneumonia, and the patient was treated with antibiotics.
However, after five days, the patient's condition deteriorated, and he was referred to a pulmonary clinic.
Spirometry revealed severe restriction of lung function, and a CT scan of the chest showed consolidation with an air bronchogram in the right middle lobe, and areas of atelectasis and ground glass opacities in the middle and lower right lobes. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was hemorrhagic and revealed cytoplasmic vacuolation of the macrophages, lipid-laden alveolar macrophages and neutrophilia.
These findings, and the use of liquid paraffin in the fire-eating routine, led the team to a diagnisis of hydrocarbon pneumonitis. The patient was treated successfully with systemic steroids and intravenous antibiotics.
Read the full case report for more details of the case, including images from the CT scans.
Posted by Elizabeth.Slade at 11:39 Comments (0)
