[A case of eosinophilic pneumonia with elevated levels of carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA)].

A 70-year-old woman was admitted for productive cough and infiltrative shadows in the right lower lung field on chest X-ray film. Eosinophilia (17%) in blood, an abnormally high percentage of eosinophiles (7%) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and eosinophilic infiltration with proliferated goblet cells in transbronchial lung biopsy specimens led to the diagnosis of eosinophilic pneumonia. Laboratory data on admission also revealed a high level of CEA (17.1 ng/ml) in serum. After administration of prednisolone (30 mg/day), the symptoms ameliorated and the CEA levels were normalized. The proliferated goblet cells were immunohistochemically positive for CEA, which suggests that the high levels of CEA were caused by excessive CEA secretion from the goblet cells associated with eosinophilic pneumonia. These studies showed that serum CEA also may be a marker for disease activity in eosinophilic pneumonia.