Can Pulmonary edema be unilateral
True. In the vast majority of cases, pulmonary edema is a bilateral process. However, it can rarely occur as a unilateral process. The only common cause of unilateral pulmonary edema is the phenomenon known as “re-expansion” pulmonary edema. This is a moderately common complication of high-volume thoracentesis, which paradoxically results in worsening, rather than improvement, of hypoxemia as a result of ventilation-perfusion mismatch. Other uncommon causes of unilateral pulmonary edema include diseases that reduce contralateral lung perfusion (such as with a central pulmonary embolus, hypoplastic pulmonary artery, or severe unilateral lung disease of any cause).
