A Differential Diagnosis of Pneumonia

The diagnosis of pneumonia requires all of the following features, including pulmonary symptoms, pulmonary infiltrates on imaging studies and systemic signs or symptoms of inflammation. The most common non-infectious etulogies of chest infiltrates for hospitalised patients includes aspiration, pulmonary edema and atelectases. Patients admitted to the hospital often have more than one etiology as the cause of their symptoms. For instance, an elderly patient with a urinary tract infection may present with fever which can end up developing aspiration pneumonia because of the hospitalization. And if you think about it, all of these patients will eventually meet the criteria for community acquired pneumonia.