[A case of diffuse lung disease with bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia and chronic eosinophilic pneumonia...

A 63-year-old male with a history of cement exposure visited our hospital in August of 1992 with chief complaints of yellow sputum and cough. Chest CT on admission revealed segmental fine nodular shadows in the right lower lobe and a band-like shadow in the left lower lobe. The transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) specimen showed alveolitis with a minimal degree of eosinophilic infiltration and organizing exudates in the dilated peripheral air spaces. The open lung biopsy specimens showed, in addition to the TBLB observations, lymphoid hyperplasia, dust deposition, and cystic dilatation of alveolar ducts. After treatment with corticosteroids, but not antibiotics, the abnormal opacities disappeared. This case appears to be characteristic of both bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia and a chronic eosinophilic pneumonia pattern.