This is the case of a 61-year-old woman with NHL-type bulky mass, superior vena cava syndrome, severe malnutrition, muscular atrophy, dysphagia, and carrier of a femoral pacemaker who is repeatedly admitted to the ICU for drainage of left pleural effusion.
She is admitted to the ICU yet again with severe acute respiratory failure and suspected bronchoaspiration after food intake. The patient had no analytical or clinical data infection without acute phase reactants or microbiological isolation. The thoracic x-ray image (A) obtained shows increased density on the left base indicative of pleural effusion. The patient is then admitted to the ICU for drainage as on many other occasions before. However, the lung ultrasound reveals the presence of a C pattern of alveolar condensation (B.1.) with cavitation-like hypoechogenicities (B.2.) that are consistent with cavitated pneumonia. Such image shows the left pulmonary base where the B.3 mark corresponds to the diaphragm and the B.4 mark corresponds to the spleen. The computed tomography scan confirms diagnosis, the presence of left basal condensation (C.1.), and a small layer of pleural effusion (C.2.) (Fig. 1).
