Publication

Respiratory bronchiolitis-interstitial lung disease: A rare complication of smoking

Journal Paper/Review - Jul 15, 2022

Units
Keywords
Bilateral miliary; CT; Tuberculosis; Lung
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Citation
Isic E, Rassouli F, Rodriguez R, Kluckert J, Brutsche M. Respiratory bronchiolitis-interstitial lung disease: A rare complication of smoking. Open Journal of Clinical & Medical Case Reports 2022; 8 (2022)
Type
Journal Paper/Review (English)
Journal
Open Journal of Clinical & Medical Case Reports 2022; 8 (2022)
Publication Date
Jul 15, 2022
Issn Electronic
2379-1039
Brief description/objective

A 58-year-old male and a 52-year-old female, both active smokers, presented an incidental finding of bilateral miliary, centrilobular, diffuse ground glass-like opacities on their chest CT. The differential diagnosis
is broad and includes miliary tuberculosis and vasculitis and could be ruled out after bronchoalveolar lavage and transbronchial biopsies. Lung cryobiopsy revealed interstitial and intraalveolar accumulation of
brownish pigmented alveolar macrophages with small, fine-granular, anthracotic particles, i.e. “smokers
macrophages”. The diagnosis of bronchiolitis-interstitial lung disease was retained at the institutional multidisciplinary ILD-board. Partial and complete remission was observed after smoking cessation.