Paeds Cases · respiratory-sleep-and-airway
Recurrent pneumonia in children — clinical case
Clinical case of a toddler with recurrent same-site pneumonia illustrating the same-site-versus-different-site branch point, the search for a structural cause, and bronchoscopy for an unwitnessed foreign body.
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Case summary
This toddler presents with recurrent pneumonia confined to the same lobe, which is the pattern that should immediately be treated as a structural lesion rather than bad luck with viruses. The essential clinical insight is that same-site recurrence points to a fixed local problem — a foreign body, a congenital malformation, or localised bronchiectasis — and that in a two-year-old with a peanut-eating coughing fit, an unwitnessed inhaled foreign body is the leading concern until bronchoscopy excludes it. [1] [2]
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- [1]Owayed AF, Campbell DM, Wang EE Underlying causes of recurrent pneumonia in children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, 2000.PMID 10665608
- [2]Eren S, Balci AE, Dikici B, et al Foreign body aspiration in children: experience of 1160 cases. Ann Trop Paediatr, 2003.PMID 12648322
- [3]Priftis KN, Mermiri D, Papadopoulou A, et al The role of timely intervention in middle lobe syndrome in children. Chest, 2005.PMID 16236916