Pulmonary complications of intravenous drug abuse. Experience at an inner-city hospital.

Fifty-one intravenous drug abusers were evaluated by a pulmonary consultative team over a 22-month period at a large inner city hospital. The most common pulmonary complication was septic pulmonary embolism, seen in 12 patients (23.5 percent). Community-acquired pneumonia was diagnosed in ten patients (19.6 percent). Mycobacterium tuberculosis occurred in five patients (9.8 percent). Although 25 of 40 patients (63 percent) tested for human immunodeficiency virus antibody were positive, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was present in only five patients (9.8 percent). Bronchoscopy was used to evaluate pulmonary infiltrates in 15 of 51 cases (29 percent). Common bacterial infections and tuberculosis remain the most frequently encountered pulmonary problems in drug abusers, despite the onset of the AIDS epidemic.