Acute pulmonary edema progressing from unilateral to bilateral after brief laparoscopic surgery under lateral position in elderly patient - A case report -

Abstract

Although pulmonary vascular permeability and gravity changes have been known to be the mechanism of pulmonary edema, yet the etiology of pulmonary edema remains speculative. The multiple conditions such as congestive heart failure, fluid overload, hypoalbuminemia, upper air way obstruction, increased pulmonary artery pressure and laparoscopic surgery cause poor pulmonary circulatory condition. Pulmonary edema usually occurs bilaterally, but unilateral pulmonay edema is uncommon entity. Unilateral pulmonary edema was reported to occur in special circumstances such as one lung ventilation, lateral decubitus position and unilateral pulmonary damage. We experienced abruptly onset and rapid healing pulmonary edema from unilateral to bilateral after brief laparoscopic operation under lateral decubitus position. Thus, we report this case as complicated condition of acute pulmonary edema in elderly patient without fluid overload, long operation time.