TY - JOUR T1 - Recurrent pneumonia after cardiac surgery JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 199 LP - 201 DO - 10.1183/09031936.02.00472001 VL - 19 IS - 1 AU - N. Ho AU - P.R. Genta AU - T.Y. Takagaki Y1 - 2002/01/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/19/1/199.abstract N2 - A 38-yr-old male presented to the outpatient clinic complaining of recurrent episodes of pneumonia in the last 4 yrs. He had a past medical history of mitral and aortic valve disease due to rheumatic fever in childhood and was submitted to mitral comissurotomy through median sternotomy 5-yrs-ago. He had six episodes of productive cough with blood-streaked sputum, dyspnoea, fever, and wheezing in the last 4 yrs. Antibiotics were prescribed on all occasions. He had smoked for 30 pack-yrs. Spirometry revealed forced vital capacity (FVC) of 3.10 L (79%), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) of 2.14 L (65%), FEV1/FVC of 0.69 (83%) with no response to bronchodilators. A chest radiograph and a computed tomography scan of the chest were performed (figs. 1⇓ and 2⇓). Bronchoscopic examination found extrinsic compression of the right lower-lobe … ER -