Differential diagnoses for the patient

Following an examination, the patient's differential diagnoses include asthma, acute bronchitis, community-based pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, and emphysema. The diagnosis are made based on the patient's clinical signs and symptoms, which are similar to those of these conditions (Sailer & Wasner, 2011). For example, her symptoms of shortness of breath, weariness, pleuritic chest pain, low appetite, and pulmonary wheeze all contribute to the differential diagnosis.

Despite having received a pneumonia shot at the age of 65, Pneumonia is the ultimate diagnosis based on the findings of her examination. For instance, the patient reports poor appetite, excessive shaking, and chills, low energy as well as chest pain that gets worse when she takes a deep breath or a cough. Moreover, the patient reports producing sputum that was pale yellow at first but is now darker and thicker. Considering the patient's reports, the symptoms that she presents are that of pneumonia (Mesko & Marks, 2002). Additionally, the examination done on the patient indicates that the patient is suffering from pneumonia. For instance, the patient experiences dullness to percussion on her right mid and lower hemithorax, shortness of breath, fatigue, pleuritic chest pain and occasionally uses accessory muscles when breathing. Moreover, the patient has increased tactile fremitus overlying her mid-right and lower lung fields upon repetition of the word, 'ninety-nine.'

There are two types of breath sounds for normal lung tissues. Bronchial sounds which consist of inspiratory and expiratory phases where the inspiratory is usually louder is one of the normal breath sounds. The other breath sound is the vesicular sounds, which consist of quiet inspiratory phases trailed by almost silent expiratory phases (Sailer & Wasner, 2011). However, for abnormal lungs, there exist sound crackles and wheezes, which the patient had. Moreover, the patient had abnormal palpitations of the lungs since she had increased tactile fremitus overlying her right mid and lower lung fields upon repetition of the word 'ninety-nine.' Additionally, the percussion of normal lung tissues produces loud sounds which are usually low-pitched (Mesko & Marks, 2002). However, the patient's percussion was dull on the mid-right and lower hemithorax.

References

Mesko, D., & Marks, V. (2002). Differential diagnosis by laboratory medicine: A quick reference for physicians. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Sailer, C., & Wasner, S. (2011). Differential diagnosis pocket: Clinical reference guide. Hermosa Beach, CA: Börm Bruckmeier.