Clinical features of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis in Korea

Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) is a complex disease, triggered by a hypersensitivity reaction to the allergen Aspergillus fumigatus. This disease occurs frequently in patients with cystic fibrosis and severe asthma in Western countries, with a prevalence of 2%-15%. However, there have been only a few case reports in Korea. We investigated the clinical and immunological features of patients with ABPA. Ten adult patients diagnosed with ABPA, according to Greenberger's criteria, were analyzed during the period January 2001 to December 2010 in a tertiary hospital. Skin-prick tests, pulmonary function tests, and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) were performed, and total serum IgE and A. fumigatus-specific IgE were measured. The patient cohort consisted of men who were middle-aged (median, 62.5; range, 19.0-79.0 years) at the diagnosis of ABPA with a long duration of asthma (median, 15.0; range, 1-48 years). Approximately 40% of the patients had a history of pulmonary tuberculosis more than 10 years prior to the study (median 23.5; range, 10.0-31.0 years) accompanied by severe obstructive lung function and radiological post-tuberculous destructive lung lesions. These patients also tended to have increased levels of immunologic parameters, such as total eosinophil count, total IgE, and A. fumigates-specific IgE, compared to those without tuberculosis sequels. Two patients with steroid-dependent asthma were treated with anti-IgE therapy and showed good responses. We report the clinical features of 10 ABPA patients, including 4 with histories of post-tuberculosis destructive lesions. Furthermore, anti-IgE antibody therapy may be an alternative strategy in cases of steroid-dependent ABPA.