system
Medical AI Inquiry: You were designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.
user
A patient with low-grade fever and weight loss has a poor excursion on the right side of the chest with decreased fremitus, dullness to percussion, and decreased breath sound all on the right. The trachea has deted to the left. The most likely diagnosis is
assistant
The correct answer is  The diagnosis in this patient is suggested by the physical exam findings.The findings of poor excursion, the flatness of percussion, and decreased fremitus on the right side are all consistent with a right-sided pleural effusion.A large right-sided effusion may shift the trachea to the left. A pneumothorax should result in hyper-resonance of the affected side. Atelectasis on the right side would shift the trachea to the right.Consolidated pneumonia would characteristically result in increased fremitus, flatness to percussion, and bronchial breath sounds, and would not cause tracheal detion.