Abstract
As the diagnosis of pneumonia depends on a careful analysis of historical information, the physical examination, the chest roentgenogram, and selective laboratory values, the “pitfalls in the diagnosis of pneumonia” are concerned with noninfectious entities that may mimic bacterial pneumonia. There are two major areas of diagnostic difficulty facing the clinician who approaches the patient with presumed pneumonia. First, it must be determined if the patient in fact has an infectious explanation for the pulmonary symptomatology and findings, or if the process is noninfectious but has features that mimic an infectious pneumonia (Table 11.1). Second, if the process is infectious, the presentation may be atypical and mimic a noninfectious disorder in certain subpopulations (e.g., compromised hosts, the elderly, children). The essential diagnostic task is to differentiate infectious from noninfectious processes. The most common diagnostic confusion is caused by malignant diseases and, to a lesser extent, collagen-vascular diseases, drug reactions, and radiation pneumonitis.1–6 The clue to diagnostic pitfalls exists among the historical clues, physical findings, chest film abnormalities, and key laboratory tests. Such pitfalls should be kept in mind to avoid over- or underdiagnosing the infectious pneumonias.
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Cunha, B.A. (1993). Pitfalls in the Diagnosis of Pneumonia. In: The Pneumonias. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9766-3_11
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