[Pulmonary complications following bone marrow transplantation as seen on the x-ray]

In a retrospective study chest radiographs of 87 bone marrow transplant recipients were analysed. 36 patients had pulmonary complications with lung opacifications. Interstitial changes were more frequent than airspace pneumonias. The latter were caused by bacteria and fungi only. The most common cause of pulmonary complications was cytomegalovirus pneumonia. It was characterised uniformly by a bilateral diffuse interstitial pattern. Idiopathic interstitial pneumonias were indistinguishable from CMV infection. Pneumonias caused by Epstein-Barr virus and protozoa, diffuse radiation pneumonitis and leukaemic infiltrates were rare and also associated with interstitial changes.