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my dad is 86 years old was taken to the hospital and has pneumonia,what are his chances of pulling through this?
Optional Information: Person's Gender: Female Person's Age: 53 Already Tried: nothing
Hello!
It depends on the severity of the infection as to how good his chances are in pulling through this. For example if he is NOT in the ICU then his chances are very good I would estimate >probably better than 95-97%
If he requires oxygen then this would indicate a more serious case of pneumonia.
If he is in the ICU (intensive care unit) then he would have a VERy serious case of pneumonia.
If he has to be placed on a ventilator then his chances of survival would drop to approximately 50 %
If caught in early enough stages then pneumonia is usually quite treatable. It can be that a patient has a very severe case or a resistant bacteria and this could be more dangerous to him if that is the caase.
His chances are better if the pneumonia involves only one lung and not both.
His chances will increase if there is definite improvement within the first three days of his hospital stay.
I hope this information helps you. Let me know if you have additional questions and I will be happy to get back with you!!
he is not in the icu, what is a ventilator?
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Oh a ventilator is when a patient has to be intubated and have a machine breath for them as they are too weak to breath adequately on their own...
If your dad is healthy in general and does not have problems such as heart failure or COPD thenn this would improve his chances of a good outcome as well.
their was a oxygen mask over his mouth to breath
OK then he is on oxygen and this is common in patients whom need hospitalization for pneumonia.
one more question is this a critial time right now how many days are critical
He is likley to be on 35 to 60% oxygen if he requires a mask.... if they can wean him down to a nasal canula then this would be a possitve sign.
Yes the next several days would be critical and you want to see signs of improvement over time.
You would like to hear that his chest x-ray has begun to improve in the next several days (at least hopefully by five days >>it is not uncommon for it to look worse in the first 1 to 2 days in particular)
You would hope that his degree of oxygen requirement has eased in the next 5 days...
If his oxygen requirement increases or he is geeting worse or has to move to the ICU then these would be bad signs of a possible bad outcome....
Let me know if you have further questions. I hope that your dad does well!!
His white cell count will also be a clue as to how hard his body is having to work to fight the infection...
You might ask his doctor if he should have anything for clot prevention as the inflammation caused by fighting a serious infection like this can increase the risk of the development of complications such as a heart attack or stroke....
If his white cell count is high but coming down in the next several days then this would be a good sign....
If he has inflammatory markers checked (sed rate and C-reactive protein) and these come down in the next several days then this too would be a positive sign...
I hope this is helpful for you. Let me know if you have further questions. Take Care!!
Anthony Bray MD
I will be happy to get back with you if you have additional questions! It appeared that you started to say something and changed your mind....