Tailor-made Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program Aiding Return to Preinfection Fitness in Massive Cavitatory Lung Abscess: A Case Report

Abstract

Lung abscess is a form of liquefactive necrosis of the lung tissue, that causes the formation of cavities (greater than 2 cm) which are filled with necrotic debris and fluid because of microbial infection. Aspiration, which may happen while the patient is not conscious and end in a pus-filled cavity. It is very rare to find out lung abscess with a complicated infection of Streptococcus pneumoniae stereotype 6B. The authors, hereby present a case report of a 42-year-old male patient, who was referred to a tertiary care hospital with chief complaints of breathlessness of grade II on the Modified Borg Scale, cough with expectoration, and right-sided chest pain. Chest x-ray and High Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT), High Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) scan of the thorax were done and the patient was diagnosed with right lower lobe lung abscess caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. The patient was managed by bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage (washing). A complete plan of rehabilitation was designed to meet the patient’s objectives, and it was executed and followed for one month. The patient showed considerable functional improvement in terms of aerobic capacity, endurance, and exercise tolerance ability. It was concluded that, medical care combined with pulmonary rehabilitation, together as a multidisciplinary approach result in improved outcomes related to the quality of life of the patients.

Keywords

• bronchoscopy
• bronchoalveolar lavage
• liquefactive necrosis
• pus-filled cavity