This article is an answer to the Case – Pregnant Woman with Pleuritic Chest Pain, Dyspnoea and Fever
A ventilation/perfusion scan showed segmental and subsegmental filling defects consistent with a pulmonary embolism. Thus she was commenced on appropriate therapeutic dalterparin.
The chest x-ray showed a severe right upper lobe pneumonia, which was later identified as Streptococcus pneumoniae on blood cultures. Consequently she was commenced on intravenous ceftriazone and was managed on the high dependency unit with noradrenaline support for septic shock.
After one day she was transferred back to the respiratory ward with joint obstetric support for foetal monitoring throughout her acute illness. She recovered quickly and was discharged three days later with ongoing obstetric input for the rest of her pregnancy.
