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Crack cocaine mimicking pulmonary embolism on pulmonary ventilation/perfusion lung scan. A case report
G T Smith1, P L McClaughry, J Purkey
1Department of Radiology, University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville 37919.
Clinical Nuclear Medicine
|January 1, 1995
Abstract:
Cocaine inhalation is associated with multiple pulmonary complications including pulmonary infiltrates, pulmonary edema, barotrauma, tracheal injury, and alveolar hemorrhage. Little has been reported about ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) lung scanning in patients who smoke cocaine. The authors report a case of inhalation cocaine abuse mimicking pulmonary embolism by V/Q scan criteria. This case report documenting perfusion abnormalities within hours of cocaine smoking which resolved within days provides the first in vivo evidence for pulmonary vasoconstriction.