Idiopathic eosinophilic pneumonia

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled “Idiopathic acute eosinophilic pneumonia.” (J Chin Med Assoc. 2006 Jul;69(7):330-3). Authors are Liu KT, Wu MH, Chiu CH et al, from the Chest Department, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, ROC. Idiopathic acute eosinophilic pneumonia (IAEP) is a rare disease but of clinical importance because of its good prognosis if treated promptly and appropriately. The etiology remains unknown and the temporal relationship between IAEP and a history of resent onset of cigarette smoking has been described. The authors report a typical case of a 21-year-old male with recent onset of smoking, who presented with acute febrile hypoxemic respiratory failure. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed soon after the patient was admitted and remarkable eosinophilia was noted in BAL fluid. Clinical condition and chest radiographs improved dramatically after corticosteroid treatment. Because effective treatment and prompt institution of therapy can obviate unnecessary morbidity and mortality, IAEP should be kept in mind when treating patients presenting with diffuse parenchymal lung disease and acute respiratory failure. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.