Vaping-associated lung injury: a case report and literature review

Dewansh Goel,Kenneth Iyamu

doi:10.29245/2689-999x/2021/2.1170

Abstract

Usage of vaping and electronic cigarettes products is a growing trend among young adults, with rising rates worldwide. Such products are gaining popularity for many reasons including an alternative to smoking cigarettes, trying something new, or as a means to relax. While users may feel that these products are less harmful or a safer substitute to smoking traditional products, the side effect profile of vape inhalation has the potential for profound injury to the lung tissue and significant respiratory failure. We would like to present a case in which a young male who was evaluated at our Emergency department for acute onset respiratory failure subsequently requiring invasive mechanical ventilation in the setting of vaping associated lung injury (VALI). In the case report, we will highlight the patient’s clinical course as well as a summary of the current evidence surrounding evaluation, diagnosis and management of this emerging pathology. We want to emphasize the importance of a detailed history which should include the use of vaping products when a young patient presents with acute respiratory failure, allowing VALI to be in the differential diagnosis. Additionally, we want to compare the clinical presentation of VALI to that of COVID-19 pneumonia as they both have many similar attributes including symptoms and findings on lung imaging studies.

Highlights

There has been a shift among young adults and teens to use electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and vaping products compared to traditional cigarettes with nearly a nine fold increase among high schoolers and six fold among middle school students between 2001 and 20141
We want to emphasize the importance of a detailed history which should include the use of vaping products when a young patient presents with acute respiratory failure, allowing vaping associated lung injury (VALI) to be in the differential diagnosis
For any patient presenting with respiratory symptoms, the objective data points including radiographic imaging have to be correlated with a detailed history since the clinical presentation associated with respiratory failure is often nonspecific and multifactorial

Summary

Introduction

There has been a shift among young adults and teens to use electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and vaping products compared to traditional cigarettes with nearly a nine fold increase among high schoolers and six fold among middle school students between 2001 and 20141. We would like to present a case in which a young male who was evaluated at our Emergency department for acute onset respiratory failure subsequently requiring invasive mechanical ventilation in the setting of vaping associated lung injury (VALI). We want to emphasize the importance of a detailed history which should include the use of vaping products when a young patient presents with acute respiratory failure, allowing VALI to be in the differential diagnosis.

Results

Conclusion