Last reviewed: 28 Sep 2024
Last updated: 22 Oct 2024
Summary
Definition
History and exam
Key diagnostic factors
- cough
- dyspnea
Full details
Other diagnostic factors
- fever
- pleuritic chest pain
- tachypnea
- foul-smelling breath
- crepitations
- frothy or purulent sputum
- history of vomiting
Full details
Risk factors
- chemoradiation for head and neck cancers
- altered mental status
- swallowing dysfunction
- gastrointestinal disease
- intubation or tracheostomy tube
- older age
- poor oral hygiene
- feeding tube
- recumbent position
Full details
Diagnostic tests
1st tests to order
- O2 saturation
- CXR
- CBC
- sputum Gram stain
- sputum culture
Full details
Tests to consider
- point-of-care lung ultrasound
- ABG
- bronchoscopy
Full details
Treatment algorithm
ACUTE
all patients
Contributors
Expert advisers
Forest W. Arnold, DO, MSc, FIDSA
Professor of Medicine
Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases
Director Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training Program
Department of Medicine
School of Medicine
University of Louisville
Louisville
KY
Disclosures
FWA declares that he has no competing interests.
Peer reviewers
Krishna Sundar, MD, FCCP
Associate Professor (Clinical)
Department of Medicine
University of Utah
Director
Pulmonary and Critical Care Research
IHC Urban South
Utah Valley Pulmonary Clinic
UT
Disclosures
KS declares that he has no competing interests.
Ozan Akca, MD
Director of Research
Associate Professor
Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
Neuroscience and Anesthesia Intensive Care Unit
University of Louisville
Louisville
KY
Disclosures
OA declares that he has no competing interests.
Differentials
- Aspiration pneumonitis
- Atelectasis
- Pulmonary edema
More DifferentialsGuidelines
- Diagnosis and treatment of adults with community-acquired pneumonia
- Practice guidelines for preoperative fasting and the use of pharmacologic agents to reduce the risk of pulmonary aspiration: application to healthy patients undergoing elective procedures
More GuidelinesPatient information
Pneumonia
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