What is the cause of right middle lobe atelectasis

If you have a long-term cough, you generally need to do an X-ray to check the condition of your lungs. At this time, many diagnostic results will be right middle lobe atelectasis. However, many patients do not understand what right middle lobe atelectasis is. According to experts, right middle lobe atelectasis is generally caused by pneumonia, so the treatment mainly focuses on anti-inflammatory treatment.

In addition to bed rest, drinking plenty of water, oxygen inhalation, and active expectoration, the most important part of pneumonia treatment is anti-infection. Treatment of bacterial pneumonia includes both pathogen-directed therapy and empirical therapy. The former selects antimicrobial drugs that are sensitive in in vitro tests based on the results of sputum culture and drug sensitivity tests; the latter mainly selects antimicrobial drugs that may cover the pathogens based on the epidemiological data of pneumonia pathogens in the region. In addition, the selection of antimicrobial drugs and routes of administration are based on factors such as the patient's age, underlying disease, severity of the disease, and whether there is aspiration.

If pneumonia is suspected, give the first dose of antibiotics immediately. After the condition stabilizes, the intravenous route can be changed to oral treatment. The course of antibiotic treatment for pneumonia is at least 5 days, and most patients need 7 to 10 days or longer. Antibiotics can be discontinued when the body temperature is normal for 48 to 72 hours and there are no clinical unstable signs of pneumonia. The clinical stability criteria for pneumonia are: ① body temperature ≤ 37.8℃; ② heart rate ≤ 100 beats/min; ③ respiratory rate ≤ 24 times/min; ④ blood pressure: systolic pressure ≥ 90 mmHg; ⑤ arterial oxygen saturation ≥ 90% or PaO2 ≥ 60 mmHg under breathing room air conditions; ⑥ able to eat orally; ⑦ normal mental state.

The clinical manifestations of effective treatment include a decrease in body temperature, improvement in symptoms, a stable clinical state, a gradual decrease in white blood cell count or its return to normal, and delayed absorption of lesions on chest X-rays. If symptoms do not improve after 72 hours, the possible reasons may be: ① The drug fails to cover the pathogenic bacteria, or the bacteria are resistant to the drug. ②Infection by special pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, fungi, viruses, etc. ③ Complications occur or host factors that affect efficacy (such as immunosuppression) exist. ④ Non-infectious diseases are misdiagnosed as pneumonia. ⑤Drug fever. It needs to be carefully analyzed, necessary inspections made, and appropriate treatments taken.

After knowing what right middle lobe atelectasis is, you need to be reminded that this situation is generally more common in winter and spring. However, no matter what the cause of right middle lobe atelectasis is, it should be actively treated to avoid pulmonary fibrosis caused by delayed treatment. You must know that it can easily affect the patient's entire lung function.