Complicated Kartagener Syndrome Presenting as Type II Respiratory Failure: A Case report.

We report a case of a 22-year-old male who was previously treated for asthma from childhood, and his repeated respiratory infections prompted the physician to start antitubercular therapy (ATT) thrice, suspecting pulmonary tuberculosis despite being sputum acid-fast bacillus (AFB) negative every time. Diagnosis of Kartagener syndrome (autosomal recessive inheritance having a triad of bronchiectasis, chronic sinusitis, situs inversus, and strongly associated with infertility) was made in this case at our tertiary care referral hospital, but it was already too late when he presented with life-threatening bilateral pneumonia, bilateral pleural effusion with type II respiratory failure, and associated cystitis warranting mechanical ventilation, and he succumbed because of extremely and irreversibly damaged lungs.