Published 9 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4057
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4057

Practice

Lesson of the Week

Chest radiographs in pregnancy

S J O’Connor, specialist registrar respiratory medicine1, H Verma, specialist registrar radiology2, S Grubnic, consultant radiologist2, C F J Rayner, consultant respiratory physician2

1 Mayday University Hospital, Croydon, Surrey CR7 7YE, 2 St George’s Hospital, London

sallyjeanoconnor@yahoo.co.uk

Do not hesitate to perform chest radiography in pregnant patients if they fulfil the criteria

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The misconception that a pregnant patient should not undergo a chest radiograph is common. Risk to a fetus during chest radiography is minimal, but reluctance to image pregnant patients can delay diagnosis and affect outcomes. We describe two cases illustrating use of this investigation when clinically indicated.

A 38 year old woman was referred to the chest clinic by her general practitioner. She was 31 weeks pregnant and reported an eight week history of fever, dry cough, and left sided chest pain. Despite repeated courses of oral antibiotics her symptoms had slowly worsened, resulting in a referral for specialist review. On examination she had decreased breath sounds at the left lung apex, left basal crackles, and soft expiratory wheeze. A chest radiograph showed a mass at the left hilum and left upper lobe collapse (fig 1Go). Urgent bronchoscopy revealed a large vascular tumour obstructing the left upper lobe. A . . . [Full text of this article]


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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

To be less invasive and less irrational.
Dr.Firoz Ali M.D.,MRCP(UK)
bmj.com, 3 Nov 2009 [Full text]
Chest Radiographs in Pregnancy - why not?
B D McCann, et al.
bmj.com, 17 Nov 2009 [Full text]
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