Asbestos exposure and tuberculous pleurisy as developmental causes of progressive unilateral upper-lung field pulmonary fibrosis radiologically consistent with pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis.

Background: Unilateral upper-lung field pulmonary fibrosis (upper-PF), which is radiologically consistent with pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis, develops after thoracic surgery. In most patients with unilateral upper-PF, aberrant intra-/extra thoracic air commonly emerges and an autopsy shows chronic pleuritis, which indicates that pleural involvement is associated with upper-PF development. If so, there may be patients with unilateral upper-PF who have a history of pleural involvement, including tuberculous pleurisy (TP) or asbestos exposure (AE). This study aimed to examine this supposition.

Methods: We examined the radiological reports of all consecutive patients from 2012 to 2018 to investigate whether there were patients having unilateral upper-PF and a history of TP or AE.

Results: Eight patients were included in the study. Five patients had a history of TP, and the remaining three had that of AE. All patients were men and had respiratory symptoms, and seven patients presented with restrictive ventilatory impairment. The interval between TP or last AE and upper-PF development was long, with a median of over 20 years. The upper-PF lesion was commonly located in the right lung, and aberrant intrathoracic air was observed in five patients during their clinical course. Additionally, the upper-PF lesion transformed into a cystic lesion in six patients, which resulted in Aspergillus infection in two patients. The prognosis was poor, with a median overall survival of 38 months.

Conclusions: Unilateral upper-PF developed even in patients with a history of pleural involvement. Our results indicate that pleural involvement plays an important role in the development of unilateral upper-PF.