A Simple Guide to Pulmonary Infarction, Diagnosis, Treatment and Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

This book describes Pulmonary Infarction, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases

An infarction is the death of the body tissue.

A myocardial infarction indicates the death of some heart muscle tissues causing a heart attack.

A Pulmonary Infarction or Lung Infarction happens when a segment of lung tissue dies when its blood supply has become blocked.

Death of one or more segments of the lung tissue caused by deficiency in blood supply is termed pulmonary infarction or lung infarction.

The segment of tissue, which is dead, is known as a lung infarct.

While several medical disorders can produce a pulmonary infarction, the most frequent cause is pulmonary embolus.

The cause of deficit or reduced blood flow is normally an obstruction in a blood vessel which supplies the lung.

The obstruction may be in a type of a blood clot or air bubbles in the bloodstream (embolism).

The blockage could also be from a blood clot which has developed in the blood vessel itself and continues to stay at the site where it was formed.

This form of clot is termed a thrombus.

Normally in healthy lungs, these blockages do not produce death of the tissue as the blood arrives at its destination through alternative routes.

If the lungs are not healthy, i.e. if they are infected, congested or has insufficient air supply, then lung infarctions can happen after the blockage of a blood vessel.

Depending on its size and site, the symptoms of a pulmonary infarction can vary from person to person, from being quite mild to excessively severe.

Whatever its symptoms, when a pulmonary infarction happens it always indicates that there is a serious underlying medical disorder, and intensive evaluation and treatment is needed.

Infarcts may take up to 2 to 3 weeks to recover where the dead tissue is replaced by scar tissue.

The most frequent cause of pulmonary infarction is from a pulmonary embolus.

It is now evaluated that up to 30% of pulmonary emboli cause at least a small pulmonary infarction.

Deficiency or reduced blood flow is caused by obstruction in a blood vessel supplying lungs.

The obstruction could be a blood clot, air bubbles in the bloodstream (embolism), clot which has formed in the blood vessel itself and persists to stay at the site where it was formed (thrombus).

Several other medical disorders can also produce a pulmonary infarction by causing occlusion of part of the pulmonary circulation, blocking off blood flow to a section of lung tissue.

These causes are:
1. Cancer,
2. Autoimmune diseases e.g., lupus, sickle cell disease,
3. Infiltrative lung diseases e.g., amyloidosis,
4. Embolization of air or other materials (drug abuse) from an intravenous catheter.

Whatever the cause, very large pulmonary infarctions are comparatively rare, since lung tissue has 3 possible sources for oxygen:
1.The pulmonary artery,
2.The bronchial artery
3.The alveoli

Multiple studies indicate a severe predominance of pulmonary infarction in the lower lobes compared to the upper lobes

Symptoms may be:
1. Hemoptysis
2. Severe dyspnea
3. Fever
4. Chest pain

CT findings of pulmonary infarction are a feeding vessel or “vessel sign,” central lucency, and a semicircular shape.

The treatment comprises early cardiopulmonary support with:
Anticoagulants
Thrombolysis
Mechanical ventilation
Packed RBC transfusion

Surgery may be necessary and comprises embolectomy and surgical placement of vena caval filters

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Pulmonary Infarction
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis
Chapter 7 Pulmonary Embolism
Chapter 8 Myocardial Infarction
Epilogue

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Oct 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005831035

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

A

Simple

Guide

To

Pulmonary Infarction,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2021 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Pulmonary Infarction, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What You Need to Treat Pulmonary Infarction)

This e-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog: http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiography account of my journey as a medical student to family doctor on my other blog: http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiography account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

My diagnosis and treatment capability has improved tremendously from my continued education.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Pulmonary infarction

What is Pulmonary infarction?

An infarction is the death of the body tissue.

A myocardial infarction indicates the death of some heart muscle tissues causing a heart attack.

A Pulmonary Infarction or Lung Infarction happens when a segment of lung tissue dies when its blood supply has become blocked.

Death of one or more segments of the lung tissue caused by deficiency in blood supply is termed pulmonary infarction or lung infarction.

The segment of tissue, which is dead, is known as a lung infarct.

While several medical disorders can produce a pulmonary infarction, the most frequent cause is pulmonary embolus.

The cause of deficit or reduced blood flow is normally an obstruction in a blood vessel which supplies the lung.

The obstruction may be in a type of a blood clot or air bubbles in the bloodstream (embolism).

The blockage could also be from a blood clot which has developed in the blood vessel itself and continues to stay at the site where it was formed.

This form of clot is termed a thrombus.

Normally in healthy lungs, these blockages do not produce death of the tissue as the blood arrives at its destination through alternative routes.

If the lungs are not healthy, i.e. if they are infected, congested or has insufficient air supply, then lung infarctions can happen after the blockage of a blood vessel.

Depending on its size and site, the symptoms of a pulmonary infarction can vary from person to person, from being quite mild to excessively severe.

Whatever its symptoms, when a pulmonary infarction happens it always indicates that there is a serious underlying medical disorder, and intensive evaluation and treatment is needed.

Infarcts