RadioGraphics
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

DOI: 10.1148/rg.274065144
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow CME Test (opens in a new window)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Restrepo, C. S.
Right arrow Articles by Hatta, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Restrepo, C. S.
Right arrow Articles by Hatta, A.
Related Collections
Right arrow Chest Radiology
Right arrowRelated Article
RadioGraphics 2007;27:941-956
© RSNA, 2007

EDUCATION EXHIBIT

Pulmonary Complications from Cocaine and Cocaine-based Substances: Imaging Manifestations1

Carlos S. Restrepo, MD, Jorge A. Carrillo, MD, Santiago Martínez, MD, Paulina Ojeda, MD, Aura L. Rivera, MD, and Ami Hatta, MD

1 From the Department of Radiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Dr, MC 7800, San Antonio, TX 78229 (C.S.R.); Department of Radiology, Hospital de Santa Clara, Bogota, Colombia (J.A.C., P.O., A.L.R.); Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC (S.M.); and Department of Radiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, La (A.H.). Presented as an education exhibit at the 2005 RSNA Annual Meeting. Received July 28, 2006; revision requested August 15 and received October 20; accepted October 26. All authors have no financial relationships to disclose. Address correspondence to C.S.R. (e-mail: RestrepoC{at}UTHSCSA.edu).

Cocaine is the illicit drug whose abuse most often results in cardiopulmonary symptoms and emergency treatment. Habitual smoking of alkaloidal cocaine ("freebase," "crack") has replaced nasal insufflation as the most common method of abuse. Smoking of cocaine exposes the lung directly to the volatilized drug as well as to the other combustion products of the smoked mixture, thereby increasing the risk of adverse pulmonary effects. A wide variety of pulmonary complications including interstitial pneumonitis, fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, alveolar hemorrhage, asthma exacerbation, barotrauma, thermal airway injury, hilar lymphadenopathies, and bullous emphysema may be associated with the inhalation of crack cocaine or of associated substances such as talc, silica, and lactose. Cocaine abuse represents one of the most serious medical and social problems of our time. Radiologists should be familiar with the various pleuropulmonary complications associated with the abuse of illicit drugs in general and of cocaine in particular to ensure correct diagnosis and appropriate treatment planning in patients with respiratory manifestations associated with such abuse.

© RSNA, 2007


Related Article

Radiology of Recreational Drug Abuse
Ian G. Hagan and Kashif Burney
RadioGraphics 2007 27: 919-940. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]





HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
RADIOGRAPHICS RADIOLOGY RSNA JOURNALS ONLINE
Copyright © 2007 by the Radiological Society of North America.