[Clinico-pathological analysis of airway abnormalities in patients with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia].

Chronic eosinophilic pneumonia is characterized by infiltration of eosinophils into alveolar spaces. Patients with this condition may also have asthmatic episodes, chronic coughing, and bronchorrhea, even after the infiltrative opacity on the chest roentgenogram resolves. We used computed tomography, pulmonary function tests, and biopsies to evaluate the airways of 11 patients with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia. The tomograms showed bronchial wall thickening in all patients at the time of the onset of symptoms and ten months later. Centrilobular peribronchovascular interstitial thickening was detected in four patients, 10 months after the onset. Pulmonary function tests showed that small airway dysfunction remained 13 months after the onset. Pathological analysis revealed airway abnormalities that included basement membrane thickening and cellular infiltration 2 years after the onset. These results show that airway changes had not resolved even after roentgenographic opacities had disappeared. More attention should be given to treatment of airway disease associated with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia, and to whether these changes in the airway are similar to those seen in bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia.