[Acute respiratory failure caused by inhalation of waterproofing spray fumes]

A 25-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of dry cough, slight fever, and severe dyspnea 5 hrs after inhalation of waterproofing spray. She had used the spray indoors near an oil heater, and then had smoked with spray-contaminated fingers. Chest roentgenograms revealed diffuse interstitial shadows mixed with patchy alveolar infiltration, and computed tomographic (CT) scans confirmed diffuse infiltration in both lungs. Marked leukocytosis and severe hypoxemia were noted. A transbronchial lung biopsy performed 4 days later demonstrated extensive alveolitis characterized by edema in alveolar septa and marked neutrophil migration into alveoli as well as alveolar septa. Oxygen therapy and the administration of methylprednisolone (1 g/day) achieved a complete recovery in about 1 week. We speculated that acute lung injury in this patient may have been induced by direct inhalation not only of the waterproofing spray itself, but also of spray by-products resulting from heat-decomposition. When using waterproofing spray, precautions should be taken to avoid inhaling the spray fumes or the more toxic by-products of thermal degradation.