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Thoracic emergencies in immunocompromised patients

Saleh Fares1, Furqan B Irfan

  • 1Emergency Medicine, Zayed Military Hospital, PO Box 8313, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. sfares@bidmc.Harvard.edu

Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America
|April 11, 2012
PubMed

With the increasing prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS patients and patients receiving chemotherapy for various malignancies, the numbers of immunosuppressed patients who present to the emergency department is on the increase. Thoracic-related emergencies in these vulnerable patients are serious and challenging to diagnose for the emergency physician, due mainly to atypical presentations, atypical pathogens, and to the often tenuous state of health of the patient. This article addresses a variety of cardiovascular, pulmonary, and esophageal emergencies that are seen specifically in immunocompromised patients presenting to the emergency department. Epidemiology, clinical presentation, investigations, prognosis, management, and evidence-based recommendations are discussed.

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