Aspiration Pneumonia

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Introduction[edit | edit source]

In pneumonia, microaspiration is the usual pathogenic mechanism, while “aspiration pneumonia” refers to the aspiration of a large amount of oropharyngeal or upper gastrointestinal content moving through the vocal cords and trachea into the lungs.[1]

Risk Factors[edit | edit source]

Include:

  • Impaired swallowing (dysphagia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, neurological diseases eg stroke or dementia, need of mechanical ventilation),
  • Weakened cough reflex (medications, stroke, dementia, impaired consciousness and alcohol).
  • Reduced consciousness (acute stroke, head injury, brain lesions, seizures and the effect of some agents that can induce impaired consciousness such as alcohol, drugs, anesthesia or sedatives),
  • Greater likelyhood of gastric contents reaching the lung (reflux and tube feeding).[1]

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Resources[edit | edit source]

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References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Niederman MS, Cilloniz C. Aspiration pneumonia. Revista Española de Quimioterapia. 2022;35(Suppl 1):73.Available:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9106188/ (accessed 12.11.2023)