A patient with congestive heart failure (CHF) complains of worsening cough with frothy secretions. The nurse notes the patient is sitting in the tripod position and appears to be air hungry. A chest x-ray is ordered. Which of the following x-ray findings most likely explains the patient’s acute symptoms?

Costophrenic angle blunting. Patients with CHF are at risk for pulmonary edema, which manifest clinically as a cough, frothy secretions, and dyspnea. The characteristic x-ray findings are obliteration of the costodiaphragmatic recesses due to accumulation of fluid. Although the patient likely has cardiomegaly due to CHF, pulmonary edema is the mostly likely cause of the patient’s symptoms. While coughing and dyspnea (rarely) are associated with pneumonia, frothy secretions are not.

A patient with congestive heart failure (CHF) complains of worsen...

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Physiological Adaptation
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Category: Physiological Adaptation
Difficulty: 7

Topics: Cardiovascular Radiology Respiratory

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