a) Patient with left heart failure in the initial acute stage. a) Patient with left heart failure in the initial acute stage. Frontal and sagittal slices; antigravitational distribution of ventilation and more so of perfusion, causing non-segmental V/P mismatch in dorsal regions (purple arrows). b) The same patient, follow up after 12 days of treatment for left heart failure. Normalisation of gravitational distribution of ventilation and perfusion. However, the patient had developed a clearly delineated pattern of pneumonia in the upper right lobe, absent ventilation and perfusion with “stripe sign” (blue arrows). Marika Bajc breathe 2012;9:48-60 ©2012 by European Respiratory Society