Gastroenteritis and Miliary Lung Opacities: An Interesting Combination of Findings

A 19-year-old man with a one-year history of vaping with multiple emergency room visits for acute gastroenteritis like symptoms was noted to have asymptomatic hypoxia with a PaO2 of 65 mmHg. Computed tomography revealed bilateral nodular lung infiltrates. History was negative for travel, allergies, or animal exposure. An infectious work-up was negative for bacterial, viral, or fungal infections, including bronchoalveolar lavage sample cultures. He did not show improvement upon initial empiric antibacterial and antifungal treatment. His hypoxia improved with systemic steroids. E-cigarette-associated lung injury (EVALI) is a diagnosis of exclusion, and unfortunately, may produce prolonged gastrointestinal symptoms with clinically silent but severe lung injury.

Keywords: e-cigarette and vaping product use associated lung injury (evali); gastrointestinal symptoms; silent lung injury.