Pulmonary infarct masquerading as community-acquired pneumonia in the COVID-19 scenario: A case report

Abstract

BACKGROUND Pulmonary embolism (PE) requires a high degree of clinical suspicion for its diagnosis and can mimic pneumonia due to its clinical, radiological, and laboratory findings. Co-existence of PE and pneumonia can also occur, which is surprisingly more common than appreciated. CASE SUMMARY Here, we report a case of a young male who initially presented during the peak of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic with features of pneumonia. He was kept under observation and was later diagnosed and treated for a right main pulmonary artery embolism without any identifiable source of thrombosis. CONCLUSION PE and pneumonia share common clinical, radiological, and laboratory findings that may delay the diagnosis of PE. Hypoxia disproportionate to the extent of radiological involvement could be an indicator of an underlying PE.