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- Published on: 17 January 2020
- Published on: 17 January 2020"Likely cause', How A Respiratory Therapist sees it.
After a diagnoses of Lipid Pneumonia, there were no samples tested of the eliquid the patient inhaled. Glycerol, or glycerin is an alcohol and cannot cause lipid pneumonia. Although there 'likely' were other ingredients in her cartridge besides VG, without testing there is no way to make a definitive assumption as to the nature of the exogenous inhalant. We do not know the exact etiology without knowing where the EC cartridge was procured from, in what manner it was ingested, how it was processed, or exactly what was in it. With the patient's extensive pulmonary history, we do not know what, if any, other medical issues may have contributed to the final diagnosis. Do we know if the eliquid was accidentally aspirated, if there was a presence of Vitamin E, acetic acid, or even vegetable oil, which is not the same as vegetable glycerin.
In response to this article, I would advise amending these findings to include that "without testing, we cannot conclude a single variable that caused this patient's lipoid pneumonia. More importantly, glycerol is an alcohol therefore could not cause a lipoid pneumonia. Although EC was determined to be the causation of this type of pneumonia, we do not know the exact contents of the liquid. To be noted, the patient did also show bilateral ground-glass opacities that may have contributed to her respiratory failure."...
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