This is one of the most common diagnosis I admit as a hospitalist, and often my patients usually have COPD, & CHF. They end up getting treated for both COPD exacerbation and CHF exacerbation and sometiems if the CXR is unclear (edema vs infection), they get treated w/ abx as well.
Lot of waste and side effects. Besides the obvious fever, WBC count, what else do you guys use to confidently discriminate between these etiologies.
Procalcitonin is one lab I use.
Wheezing (could be present with both edema and COPD_
BNP is often chronically elevated in a lot of these CHFers so comparing it to their "baseline."
Just wanted more tips from the more experience folks out there.
Lot of waste and side effects. Besides the obvious fever, WBC count, what else do you guys use to confidently discriminate between these etiologies.
Procalcitonin is one lab I use.
Wheezing (could be present with both edema and COPD_
BNP is often chronically elevated in a lot of these CHFers so comparing it to their "baseline."
Just wanted more tips from the more experience folks out there.