Discussion
Diagnosis With Brief Discussion
- Diagnosis
- (secondary) Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis
- Radiologic Findings
- Fig. 1. Chest posteroanterior radiograph showing heterogeneous patchy ground-glass opacities (GGOs) in the middle and lower lung fields.
Fig. 2. Computed tomography scan showing geographic GGOs and interlobular septal thickening in the entire lungs with middle and lower predominance.
- Brief Review
- Bronchoscopy revealed redness of the bronchial mucosa, and Streptococcus pneumoniae was detected. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery was performed for the confirmation of unimproved radiologic ground-glass opacity (GGO) findings. The surgical specimen was positive for periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) stain, leading to the final diagnosis of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP). After bronchoalveolar lavage treatment, the radiologic findings improved on the follow-up chest computed tomography (CT) and chest posteroanterior radiography, and PAP did not recur for 7 years.
PAP is a rare disease characterized by abnormal intra-alveolar accumulation of lipoproteins (1, 2). Three distinct subgroups of PAP are currently recognized: idiopathic, secondary, and congenital (3). Secondary PAP (5%
- Please refer to
Case 818, Case 843, Case 880, Case 883, Case 1033, Case 1200, -
- References
- 1) Godwin JD, M
- Keywords
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