A not ventilating lung
A patient is recovering from pneumonia complicated by parapneumonic infiltration on the right side, still receiving the antibiotic therapy and mechanically ventilated. Repeated drainages of the right thoracic cavity was necessary.
She is now breathing spontaneously and starts to be mobilised from the bed.
Let´s suppose that you do a regular check-up and hear no breathing sounds over the whole right lung. Here is a recent chest X-ray:
Concerning the patient´s history and your auscultatory finding, the image looks relatively good. However, why is the right lung not breathing at all?
Ultrasonography of the right thoracic cavity will answer this question: