Pulmonary pseudomonas aeruginosa infection
Pulmonary pseudomonas aeruginosa infection is an uncommon cause of community-acquired pneumonia but can be a common cause of nosocomial pneumonia. It becomes increasingly important in critically ill and ventilated patients.
Pneumonia due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa can occurs as several distinct syndromes :
- community acquired pneumonia - usually in patients with chronic lung disease
- hospital-acquired pneumonia - usually occurring in the ICU setting -ventilator associated pneumonia
- bacteremic pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia - usually in the neutropenic host
Radiographic features
CT - HRCT chest
It can have a number of radiographic presenations with the commonest patterns being
- areas of ground-glass attenuation - tends to involve multiple lobes and may demonstrate an upper zonal predilection
- bronchial wall thickening
- peribronchial infiltration and areas of consolidation.
A pleural effusion may be present in approximately 40% of patients.
Other uncommon features include intralobular reticular opacities, pleural enhancement, pulmonary cavities and centrilobular nodules.
