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"3" RESPIRATORY CAUSES OF NORMAL X-RAY CHEST WHERE THE PATIENT CAN STILL DIE
O P Kapoor
Ex. Hon. Physician, Jaslok Hospital and Bombay Hospital, Mumbai, Ex. Hon. Prof. of Medicine, Grant Medical College and JJ Hospital, Mumbai 400 008.
It is worth remembering that unlike a heart patient is under observation in the hospital who cannot die with a normal ECG, a patient having respiratory illness with a normal X-ray chest can!
The following are the three conditions which can cause this:-
1. COPD
2. Acute severe bronchial asthma
3. Pulmonary embolism
Thus the X-ray chest in such situation cannot be compared with an ECG. Yes, if the practitioners buy a Pulse Oxymeter, in a patient with the above three illnesses an increasing fall of SPO2 would predict an emergency or death. Thus like an ECG in a cardiac patient, a patient with a chest illness cannot die if SPO2 is normal!
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