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Aspiration pneumonia

 
Dental Dictionary: aspiration pneumonia

n

Pneumonia produced by aspiration of foreign material into the lungs.

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Medical Dictionary: aspiration pneumonia
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n.

Bronchopneumonia resulting from the entrance of foreign material, usually food particles or vomit, into the bronchi.

WordNet: aspiration pneumonia
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: bronchopneumonia resulting from foreign material (usually vomit or food particles) entering the bronchi


Wikipedia: Aspiration pneumonia
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Aspiration pneumonia
Classification and external resources

Histopathologic image of aspiration pneumonia in an elderly patient with debilitating neurologic illness. Note foreign-body giant cell reaction. Autopsy case. H & E stain.
ICD-10 J69.0, P24.9
ICD-9 507, 770.12, 770.14, 770.16, 770.18
MedlinePlus 000121
eMedicine emerg/464
MeSH D011015

Aspiration pneumonia is bronchopneumonia that develops due to the entrance of foreign materials that enter the bronchial tree,[1] usually oral or gastric contents (including food, saliva, or nasal secretions). Depending on the acidity of the aspirate, a chemical pneumonitis can develop, and bacterial pathogens (particularly anaerobic bacteria) may add to the inflammation.

Contents

Causes

Aspiration pneumonia is often caused by an incompetent swallowing mechanism, such as occurs in some forms of neurological disease (a common cause being strokes) or while a person is intoxicated. An iatrogenic cause is during general anaesthesia for an operation and patients are therefore instructed to be nil per os (NPO) (aka Nothing By Mouth) for at least four hours before surgery.

Whether aspiration pneumonia represents a true bacterial infection or a chemical inflammatory process remains the subject of significant controversy. Both causes may present with similar symptoms.

Implicated bacteria

When bacteria are implicated, they are usually of the anaerobic oral flora:

They may also be admixed with aerobic bacteria:

Location

Pneumonia
Streptococcus pneumoniae-263.jpg
Infectious pneumonias
Pneumonias caused by infectious or noninfectious agents
Noninfectious pneumonia

The location is often gravity dependent, and depends on the patient position. Generally the right middle and lower lung lobes are the most common sites of infiltrate formation due to the larger caliber and more vertical orientation of the right mainstem bronchus. Patients who aspirate while standing can have bilateral lower lung lobe infiltrates. The right upper lobe is a common area of consolidation in alcoholics who aspirate in the prone position.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ aspiration pneumonia at Dorland's Medical Dictionary
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Table 13-7 in: Mitchell, Richard Sheppard; Kumar, Vinay; Abbas, Abul K.; Fausto, Nelson. Robbins Basic Pathology: With STUDENT CONSULT Online Access. Philadelphia: Saunders. ISBN 1-4160-2973-7.  8th edition.
  3. ^ Anand Swaminathan, MD. "eMedicine.com: Pneumonia, Aspiration". http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic464.htm.  Retrieved: 2007-01-20

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dental Dictionary. Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Medical Dictionary. The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Aspiration pneumonia" Read more