Idiopathic Hypereosinophilic Syndrome-Related Pulmonary Involvement Diagnosed by Bronchoalveolar Lavage

Autor: Slabbynck, Hans, Impens, Nicole, Naegels, Serge, Dewaele, Mark, Schandevyl, Wouter
Zdroj: Chest; April 1992, Vol. 101 Issue: 4 p1178-1180, 3p
Abstrakt: Patients with HES and pulmonary infiltrates may pose certain diagnostic problems as the infiltrates may be attributed to infection, infarction, congestive heart failure, or HES itself. We report an 87-year-old woman with idiopathic HES presenting with bibasal alveolar infiltrates. Differential cell count in BAL fluid yielded a very high percentage (73 percent) of eosinophils. Other authors previously mentioned the absence of eosinophils in the lavage fluid despite an important peripheral eosinophilia in a patient with the idiopathic HES but without HES-related pulmonary involvement. Thus, BAL fluid eosinophilia may suggest HES-related pulmonary involvement. Therefore, BAL might be an important diagnostic tool in the management of pulmonary infiltrates in idiopathic HES.
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