Mucous Plug in the Bronchus Causing Lung Collapse

Figure 1. A 71-year-old woman with bronchiectasis was admitted with a two-week history of increasing shortness of breath and a cough productive of small amounts of yellow sputum. She had received antibiotics from her primary physician without clinically significant improvement. Her breathing had become suddenly worse on the day before admission. Chest radiography showed opacification of and volume loss in the right lung (Panel A). A chest radiograph obtained two weeks earlier had been normal except for changes indicative of bronchiectasis. Chest physiotherapy did not result in marked expectoration. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy revealed a large mucous plug completely occluding the right . . .