A 50-year-old man is transferred to your facility from an outlying community hospital. He is purportedly a pedestrian who was struck by a car. EMS personnel reported him to be unresponsive at the scene. He was intubated for airway protection and stabilized at the outside facility prior to transfer.
Upon arrival at your facility, he is still intubated and unresponsive, and his Glasgow Coma Scale score is 3T. His heart rate is 150 beats/min and his blood pressure, 105/56 mm Hg. No additional history is available.
Primary survey reveals a large scalp laceration with currently controlled bleeding. His pupils are nonreactive bilaterally. The patient is tachycardic with bilateral crackles. He also has a laceration and deformity of his right lower extremity.
No imaging was provided in the transfer, so you obtain a portable chest radiograph. What is your impression?
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ANSWER The radiograph demonstrates bilateral patchy, fluffy infiltrates as well as what is sometimes referred to as ground-glass opacities. In the setting of trauma and respiratory compromise, these areas are most suggestive of pulmonary contusions and early acute respiratory distress syndrome. Other possibilities in the differential diagnosis include pulmonary edema, atypical pneumonia, and pulmonary metastases.