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Absent Pulmonary Artery Presenting as High-altitude Pulmonary Edema

Abstract

Case Presentation: A 22-year-old male with no known past medical history presented to our emergency department complaining of difficulty breathing. A plain film chest radiograph revealed findings consistent with a tension pneumothorax.

Discussion: However, due to physical examination findings inconsistent with the imaging report, a computed tomography of the chest was ordered which revealed an absent right pulmonary artery.The patient was ultimately treated for high altitude pulmonary edema and discharged on nifedipine and supplementary oxygen.