A Case of Pulmonary Alveolar Hemorrhage Mimicking Community Acquired Pneumonia

Caleb V Wutawunashe¹, Kourosh Shargani^1, and Anu Menon¹

¹Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY. 100 E 77th St, New York, NY 10075, USA

Cite this paper:
Caleb V Wutawunashe, Kourosh Shargani and Anu Menon. A Case of Pulmonary Alveolar Hemorrhage Mimicking Community Acquired Pneumonia. American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2021; 9(11):535-537. doi: 10.12691/ajmcr-9-11-4

Abstract

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis is a vasculitis that affects small to medium sized blood vessels in the lungs and kidneys. Alveolar hemorrhage is often initially misdiagnosed as pneumonia and treated incorrectly, leading to higher adverse outcomes in patients with undiagnosed vasculitis. We describe a case of a 68-year-old female who presented to our institution and was initially diagnosed and treated for community acquired pneumonia, however, after a protracted clinical course with no improvement in her respiratory status, she underwent a bronchoscopy that revealed pulmonary alveolar hemorrhage, a manifestation of underlying granulomatosis with polyangiitis.

Keywords:
granulomatosis with polyangiitis pulmonary alveolar hemorrhage pneumonia granulomatosis with polyangiitis

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References:

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