Elderly patient with short‐term recurrent pneumonia in the same lobe

Abstract

After complaints of fever, cough and a right upper lateral chest pain, an 86‐year‐old man received medical examination in January 2001. A chest X‐ray showed right upper pulmonary infiltrates. He was empirically treated and the pulmonary infiltrates disappeared. He had a second episode of recurrent pneumonia in the same right upper lobe in April 2001, and then a third episode of recurrent pneumonia in October 2001. Chest computed tomography showed neither localized intraluminal bronchial obstruction nor localized extrinsic bronchial compression in the right upper pulmonary lobe. His immune system and pulmonary function tests were normal. Therefore, it appeared that these were the same lobar recurrent pneumonias, which are rare in the short term. He was tried on long‐term low‐dose erythromycin therapy after the third episode of recurrent pneumonia and he has had no recurrent pneumonia for 16 months.