Patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) typically show significant improvement within 3-5 days. However, if symptoms persist or radiologic infiltrates remain despite adequate antibiotic treatment, it’s considered non-resolving pneumonia. (1) To address this, healthcare providers should first rule out alternative diagnoses such as tuberculosis, cancer, or other conditions that mimic pneumonia. Next, they should assess the effectiveness of treatment and patient compliance. It’s also crucial to identify any underlying factors that may be contributing to immunodeficiency, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, intra-bronchial construction, alcoholism, smoking, malignancy, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, as well as potential complications like necrotizing pneumonia, empyema or superinfection. In some cases, a rare or unexpected cause may be underlying the non-resolving pneumonia.
A. Alshimemeri, H. Al-Mishari, G. Ibrahim, IE Aly, S. Al-Shimemeri, F. Almajid
