Pneumonia is an infectious pathology in the lungs caused by bacteria, viruses, or (less commonly) fungi. There are over 100 types of germs that are known to cause pneumonia. In the article, you can see a photo of what pneumonia looks like in an X-ray image.
Causes
Microbes cause pneumonia. The bacteria most likely to cause pneumonia include:
- Pneumococci.
- Mycoplasma.
- Haemophilus influenza.
- Chlamydia
- Legionella.
People who live or work in crowded places, such as schools, shelters, and prisons, are more likely to get mycoplasma pneumonia.
Viruses that cause pneumonia:
- Flu virus.
- Parainfluenza virus.
- Human metapneumovirus.
- Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
- Adenovirus.
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
- Herpes virus.
Fungi causing pneumonia:
- Histoplasma capsulatum (found in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys);
- Coccidioidomycosis (found in southern California and southwestern desert regions);
- Cryptococcus.
Some bacteria that cause hospital-acquired pneumonia include:
- gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter species;
- Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA);
- streptococci.
Symptoms
A sign of pneumonia is a cough, dry or with sputum production. Sputum discharged by coughing is “rusty”. Bloody with pus refers to pneumonia initiated by Friedlander’s wand or one that is provoked by streptococcus. If sputum develops an unpleasant, putrefactive aroma, this indicates that there are inflamed sources of suppuration inside. If there is hemoptysis, this indicates pneumonia caused by fungi. If it is accompanied by intense pain in the side, this indicates a pulmonary infarction.
Signs
Pain in the chest area is also an indicator of pneumonia, it is both shallow and deep. The first occurs in case of muscle inflammation between the ribs, a similar pain expresses itself especially with a deep breath. The second is evidence of damage or distension of the lung membrane, and also indicates inflammation. The pain becomes stronger with deep breaths or coughing.
If the source of the inflammatory process resides in the lower parts of the lungs and the diaphragmatic pleura is still involved in the inflammatory process, then the pain will be localized in the abdomen, and it is quite acute. The feeling of lack of air, i.e. shortness of breath, is an obvious criterion for pneumonia, it expresses itself more strongly in inflammatory processes, which are formed in the case of chronic diseases, for example, inflammation of the bronchopulmonary system or heart failure. Also, pneumonia is characterized by symptoms such as chills, high temperature up to 40 ° C, general painful condition, severe weakness, loss of appetite, vomiting, nausea. Painful people, or people of advanced age, also have disorders of consciousness.
Diagnostics
X-ray examination is the main method for diagnosing pneumonia. It is carried out by a radiologist or an x-ray laboratory assistant with further decoding. Fluorography algorithm:
- Strip to the waist, remove jewelry from the neck.
- The study is carried out in an upright position.
- A picture is taken in direct projection (the patient is pressed against the sensor by the chest).
- Further in a lateral projection (the patient puts his hand behind his head and presses against the device with the side of the chest).
- Pictures are taken with calm breathing and at the height of inspiration, with holding the breath.
After taking pictures, they must be developed. Some rooms use a digital fluorography format. When the pictures are developed, the doctor proceeds to decipher them.
Indications and contraindications
Fluorography should be done when the symptoms of the disease are present. If a person has a croupous or focal disease, secondary radiographs are prescribed to observe the changes in "bad" shadows during treatment.
A specific indication is a suspicion of an island-inflammatory process of lung tissue or another serious illness. To take a picture, you must consider the harm and usefulness of the diagnosis. Only if the sense of x-ray irradiation exceeds the harm, do x-rays.
Contraindications to the examination are not highlighted. The only restriction is pregnancy. But if pneumonia is suspected in pregnant women, lung fluoroscopy is performed. At the same time, the efforts of doctors are aimed at maximally protecting the body of the future mother from radiation.
Focal pneumonia
To diagnose, you need to see a photo of what focal pneumonia looks like on the x-ray . You also need to be familiar with the decryption:
- the presence of an active infiltrate of an inhomogeneous structure;
- The “suspicious” shadow has a fuzzy outline;
- with inflammation of the pleura, linear severity is traced, fluid in the costal-diaphragmatic sinus on the side of the pathology;
- against the background of the resolution of the process, the site of infiltration becomes heterogeneous due to the destruction and healing of the lungs.
Croupous pneumonia
What does pneumonia look like in the image (x-ray) if it is of a croupous appearance:
- subtotal, total blackouts from one or two edges;
- displacement of the mediastinum towards ultimate damage;
- change in physical damage to the domes of the diaphragm;
- blockage of the costal-diaphragmatic sinuses with fluid;
- complete deformation of the pulmonary pattern;
- heaviness of the roots of the lungs.
It is possible to identify features of croupous inflammation on a radiograph. However, in pathology, radiography in two projections (direct and lateral) is considered the medical diagnostic standard. Such a list of procedures is performed to assess the number of affected parts of the lungs and study the state of the mediastinum.
Decoding spots
To decrypt the photo, you need to know what the picture of the lungs looks like with pneumonia. Darkening in the picture is found not only individual, but also numerous (disseminated). The interpretation of fluoroscopy for inflammatory modifications of the lung tissue demonstrates that the x-ray syndrome looks typical for a disease. It has a medical name - limited or common dimming.
If there is a disease in the lungs, then in the picture:
- infiltrative source in any part of the body;
- root heaviness;
- contour deformation;
- veil of the rib-phrenic sinus.
When evaluating, you need to understand that the photo comes out flat. It contains a summation display of absolutely all anatomical structures. The picture looks negative, since the x-ray film is a photo-negative. Against the background of infiltrative sources, enlightenments are observed, which represent the air zones of the lung tissue.
Fluorography in children
Parents are often interested in what pneumonia looks like in a child’s picture. Fluorography of a child looks different, unlike adults. Due to the reactivity of the immune system, every smallest cluster in children can rapidly cause croupous inflammation. It is important to carry out timely diagnosis of the disease and detect focal inflammation.
What are the signs of inflammation in a child:
- Focal dimming in the lower lobe of the lungs.
- Infiltrates are not higher than 1-2 millimeters in diameter.
- High density of spots is detected with advanced inflammation.
- Compaction and growth of the lymph nodes of the mediastinum is hardly observed in the photo.
- After the disappearance of painful shadows, the deformation of the pattern persists for another 7 days.
- With a bad process, small-focal pneumonia becomes pseudo-lobar.
- The high saturation of the lesion covers the structure of the root and pulmonary pattern.
The child often has a swelling of the lung tissue, which complicates the diagnostic criteria. The inadequacy of the X-ray and medical picture of the disease can also be explained by the small size of the lung tissue and the huge occurrence of elements of the lung pattern per unit area.
Pneumonia treatment
The treatment and prevention of forms of pneumonia, in which the disease proceeds easily (i.e., an uncomplicated form of the disease), is carried out by broad-profile doctors, these are therapists, pediatricians or family doctors. We have already figured out what pneumonia looks like in a fluorography image. Having diagnosed it, doctors begin treatment.
With a mild form of pneumonia, patients (adults) are treated in a hospital. The patient is prescribed a number of complex measures. They include taking various drugs to expand the bronchi, you will have to take antibiotics and antiviral drugs to overcome the causative agents of pneumonia.
Physiotherapy, physiotherapy exercises, a special diet (it will be described below), heavy drinking are also in an inpatient treatment course. If the mild form of the disease is not complicated by anything, treatment at home is possible under the supervision and strict control of the therapist who will visit the patient.
In severe and moderate form of the disease, the patient needs hospitalization in the therapeutic department. If the patient has detected at least one of the following cases, it is recommended to undergo inpatient treatment:
- The patient is over 60 years old.
- Has a chronic disease.
- Antibiotics do not help or help, but not effective.
- Pregnancy.
Antibiotics are recommended for patients only if at least one of the diagnostic methods confirms the patient’s diagnosis. It is important to remember that you should not self-medicate. If you suddenly find a disease, you should immediately seek medical help. The disease gives complications, which then can greatly complicate the healing process.
In order not to aggravate the disease, it is important for the patient to observe the following rules:
- Bed rest.
- Nutrition rich in vitamins.
- Ventilate (there should always be fresh air in the patient's room) and maintain the air temperature at +18 ° .
- When cleaning the house, as well as the patient's room, funds containing chlorine should be excluded.
According to the recommendations of doctors, the patient’s diet consists of the following products:
- Low-fat meat and fish, chicken broth, chicken.
- Dairy products, as well as milk.
- Fresh vegetables and fruits, dried fruits.
- Cranberry juice.
- Juices from fruits, vegetables.
- Cereals, pasta.
- Tea and broth from rose hips.
- Fresh honey, jam.
Attention! In order to recover, the patient is obliged to exclude fatty, fried, spicy, smoked dishes from the diet, the patient is strictly forbidden to drink alcohol, marinades, sweets from the store, various canned foods, carcinogenic products are also prohibited.
Thus, it becomes clear what pneumonia looks like in the picture, the photo is presented in the article, and the causes and methods of treating the pathology are also considered.