A 72-Year-Old Woman With Respiratory Failure and Bilateral Ground-Glass Opacities.

A 72-year-old woman with diabetes mellitus was admitted to our hospital because of dyspnea on exertion. Sputum cytologic evaluation revealed intranuclear inclusion bodies in the cells; we therefore considered viral pneumonia and performed a bronchoscopy. The bronchial washing fluid was positive for immunoperoxidase staining of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) and HSV1 polymerase chain reaction. The patient was diagnosed as having pneumonia due to HSV1 and was successfully treated with acyclovir.

Paradoxical response with increased tumor necrosis factor-α levels to anti-tuberculosis treatment in a patient with disseminated tuberculosis.

It has been reported that tuberculosis (TB) worsens after cessation of tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors and starting anti-TB treatment. Little is known about the immunological pathogenesis of this paradoxical response (PR). We report the first case of a TB patient in whom PR occurred concurrently with elevation of circulating tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) levels. A 75-year-old woman, who had been treated with adalimumab for SAPHO syndrome, developed disseminated TB. Soon after administration of anti-TB treatment (isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol), and after discontinuation of adalimumab, a PR occurred. Serial testing of serum cytokine levels revealed a marked increase in TNFα, and a decline in interferon-γ levels. Despite intensive treatment with antibiotics, prednisolone, noradrenaline, and mechanical ventilation, acute respiratory distress syndrome developed and she died. Thus, overproduction of TNFα after cessation of TNFα inhibitors may partially account for the pathogenesis of a PR. This supports preventative or therapeutic reinitiation of TNFα inhibitors when PR occurs. Serial monitoring of circulating inflammatory cytokine levels could lead to earlier identification of a PR.

Pulmonary Nontuberculous Mycobacteriosis and Chronic Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in Patients with Allergic Bronchopulmonary Mycosis without Cystic Fibrosis.

Objective The frequency of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacteriosis (pNTM), chronic lower respiratory tract infections (cLRTIs), and pneumonia in patients with allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis (ABPM) without cystic fibrosis has not yet been fully investigated. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 42 patients with ABPM focusing on the frequency of pNTM and cLRTIs, acute exacerbation of cLRTIs, and pneumonia. Results During a median follow-up period of 2,299 days (range, 118-6,138 days), 7 patients developed pNTM (mainly Mycobacterium avium complex), and 21 patients developed cLRTI (mostly from Staphylococcus aureus followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Twelve patients developed 21 episodes of acute exacerbation of cLRTIs, and 4 patients developed pneumonia. Conclusion Patients with ABPM can have concomitant NTM infection and, not uncommonly, cLRTI, and they can also sometimes develop pneumonia or an acute exacerbation of cLRTI.

Case Series of Pulmonary Tumor Embolism and Intravascular Lymphoma: Evaluation of the Usefulness of Pulmonary Microvascular Cytology.

Pulmonary tumor embolism (PTE) and intravascular lymphoma cause rapidly progressive deterioration and an antemortem diagnosis is difficult. The usefulness of pulmonary microvascular cytology (PMC) in the diagnosis of these disorders has been reported in sporadic case reports. We retrospectively evaluated the records of 7 patients with tumor cells in the pulmonary microvasculature (4 with PTE and 3 with malignant lymphoma) who underwent pulmonary microvascular cytology. Two of the 4 patients with PTE and 2 of the 3 patients with malignant lymphoma (all 3 had intravascular metastasis) had positive PMC results. These findings suggested that PMC may be useful in the diagnosis of these disorders.

Diagnostic criteria that can most accurately differentiate allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis from other eosinophilic lung diseases: A retrospective, single-center study.

BACKGROUND: Several diagnostic criteria have been proposed to differentiate allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis (ABPM) from asthma, but there have been no studies to establish diagnostic criteria to classify ABPM differently from other eosinophilic lung diseases. METHODS: We retrospectively investigated both patients with ABPM (n=42) diagnosed by clinical (Rosenberg-Patterson criteria modified to apply to fungi other than Aspergillus spp., with consideration of computed tomography and bronchoscopy findings) or pathological criteria and those with other eosinophilic lung diseases (n=118) to establish elaborate diagnostic criteria for ABPM. RESULTS: Etiologies of ABPM included fungi other than Aspergillus spp. or unidentified pathogens in 16 patients. Fourteen patients (33.3%) did not have asthma. When the diagnostic cutoff line was set to satisfy six or more primary plus secondary modified Rosenberg-Patterson criteria, ABPM could be diagnosed with good sensitivity, specificity, and positive/negative predictive values (97.6%, 98.3%, 95.3%, and 99.1%, respectively). When the diagnostic criteria were combined with pathological criteria, the values further improved to 100%, 98.3%, 95.5%, and 100%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that these novel criteria offer good sensitivity, specificity, and positive/negative predictive values for the diagnosis and classification of ABPM.

Reversible platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome induced by rapidly progressive interstitial pneumonia in a patient with polymyositis.

We report a case of platypnea-orthodeoxia that developed in a 64-year-old Japanese woman during an episode of rapidly progressive interstitial pneumonia with polymyositis. Pulmonary infiltrates were predominant in the bilateral lower lobes. The patient was treated successfully with early administration of immunosuppressive therapies and polymyxin B-immobilized fiber column-direct hemoperfusion, and her platypnea-orthodeoxia improved with resolution of the underlying parenchymal lung disease. Reports of platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome with interstitial pneumonia are extremely rare. The recognition that platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome may occur in multiple disease states, including interstitial pneumonia, is crucial to the understanding of this perplexing disorder.

Pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma detected as a result of pneumothorax and the subsequent occurrence of multiple cystic metastases.

A 39-year-old man was admitted for spontaneous pneumothorax. He underwent pulmonary resection to correct the lesion causing the air leakage, and a pathological diagnosis of pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma was made because we thought that the pneumothorax developed due to the direct rupture of necrotic neoplastic tissue into the pleural cavity. After the operation, the patient received chemotherapy, during which multiple cystic metastases gradually developed in the lung that caused repeated occurrences of pneumothorax. Clinicians must be careful to recognize that pneumothorax can also be a complication of primary and various metastatic pulmonary malignancies.