Case records of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Weekly clinicopathological exercises. Case 42-1992. A 59-year-old woman with severe, progressive dyspnea.

Abstract

Presentation of Case A 59-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of progressive dyspnea. The patient was in excellent health until four or five years earlier, when she began to experience exertional dyspnea that gradually worsened. Seven months before admission she discontinued a 50—pack-year habit of cigarette smoking, with transitory improvement. Three or four months later the dyspnea began to worsen progressively and was accompanied by fatigue, and she entered another hospital. The results of cardiopulmonary laboratory studies are presented in Table 1. An x-ray film of the chest showed a diffuse, bilateral interstitial infiltrate. A ventilation—perfusion scan indicated a . . .