Bypass surgery with noncardiogenic pulmonary edema

My mother has recently had a bypass and has developed noncardiogenic pulmonary edema, she is having great difficulty in keeping her oxygen levels above 90 percent that is even with the oxygen output at 15. The pulmonologist and the cardiac surgeon are at a little bit of odds with each other on the situation. The cardiac wants a biopsy to determine the nature of the fluid but the pulmonologist wants to wait and see. Her heart seems to be doing ok, but I did notice while visiting that her blood pressure was in the 90/50 range. They have begun steroids to help with the inflamation (inflammation) after a series of blood tests to rule out infection. They are also testing for environmental contributors such as mold. The doctors have not given a prognosis and there seems to be some disagreement with the diagnosis. Where do I go to get some answers and a more solid prognosis? ***@****

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Thanks for writing to the forum!
Well, I can understand it’s tough for you when the cardiologist and pulmonologist disagree. I would go with the pulmonologist as the heart is doing ok and other tests are being carried out to eliminate the cause and infection. A pulmonary tap to take out the fluid is again an invasive procedure and that may introduce further infection.
Prognosis in such a case depends on multiple factors, including age, underlying disease, ventilator support given (like high pressure oxygen), associated organ system dysfunction, and the type of intensive care given to the patient.
For more details of the tests that should be done and treatment modalities you can go through this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulmonary_edema

Hope this helps. It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!