Bat wing pulmonary edema?

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Specializes in LDRP.

Had a pt today who was in with one thing on another floor and developed an MI and was CP/SOB as well, had a pcxr that showed "bat wing pulmonary edema", as well as small B pleural effusions, adn pna.

had never heard of bat wing pulmonary edema. Well, i have heard of pulmonary edema, of course, but bat wing?

I looked it up on google and found some xray images of it, but not a clear defintion on the "bat wing" part

thanks

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

hello, happynurse2005,

bat wing edema

bat wing edema refers to a central, nongravitational distribution of alveolar edema. it is seen in less than 10% of cases of pulmonary edema and generally occurs with rapidly developing severe cardiac failure as seen in acute mitral insufficiency (associated with papillary muscle rupture, massive myocardial infarct, and valve leaflet destruction due to septic endocarditis) or renal failure. in bat wing edema, the lung cortex is free of alveolar or interstitial fluid. this pathologic condition develops so rapidly that it is initially observed as an alveolar infiltrate, and the preceding interstitial phase that is typically seen in pulmonary edema goes undetected radiologically.

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http://radiographics.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/19/6/1507

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Specializes in LDRP.

ah, i didn't find that one b/c i was looking up "bat wing pulmonary edema" as a quote. thanks!

to quote teh above:

and generally occurs with rapidly developing severe cardiac failure as seen in acute mitral insufficiency (associated with papillary muscle rupture, massive myocardial infarct, and valve leaflet destruction due to septic endocarditis) or renal failure

yeah, this sounds like something pretty crappy to have. This particular pt didn't have renal failure, but may have had the heart failure.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

batwing pulmonary edema? never heard of that!!

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
ah, i didn't find that one b/c i was looking up "bat wing pulmonary edema" as a quote. thanks!

to quote teh above:

yeah, this sounds like something pretty crappy to have. This particular pt didn't have renal failure, but may have had the heart failure.

I just typed in "Bat Wing Pulmondary Edema" and found this with my first hit. Better than typing out from my pulmonary textbook.;)

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