A Case of Bronchiolitis Interstitial Pneumonitis.

Chi, Su Young; Ryu, Kyoung Ho; Lim, Dae Hun; Shin, Hong Joon; Ban, Hee Jung; Oh, In Jae; Kwon, Yong Soo; Kim, Kyu Sik; Lim, Sung Chul; Kim, Young Chul; Choi, Yoo Duk; Song, Sang Yun; Seon, Hyun Ju

doi:2009.67.4.364

Tuberc Respir Dis > Volume 67(4); 2009 > Article

Case Report

Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases 2009;67(4):364-368.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2009.67.4.364 Published online October 1, 2009.

A Case of Bronchiolitis Interstitial Pneumonitis.

Su Young Chi, Kyoung Ho Ryu, Dae Hun Lim, Hong Joon Shin, Hee Jung Ban, In Jae Oh, Yong Soo Kwon, Kyu Sik Kim, Sung Chul Lim, Young Chul Kim, Yoo Duk Choi, Sang Yun Song, Hyun Ju Seon

¹Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea. yskwon@chonnam.ac.kr
²Department of Pathology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
³Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
⁴Department of Radiology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.

Abstract

Bronchiolitis interstitial pneumonitis (BIP), an unclassified and newly described interstitial pneumonia, has a combined feature of prominent bronchiolitis, interstitial inflammation, and fibrosis. It is distinct from bronchiolitis obliterans or bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP). BIP has a better prognosis than common cases of interstitial pneumonia. However, BIP has a poorer prognosis than BOOP. BIP's response to corticosteroids is not as successful as BOOP's response to this treatment. We encountered the case of a 31-year-old woman with BIP with an initial presentation of dyspnea and a cough that had lasted for 3 months. The patient's chest CT scan demonstrated patchy ground glass opacities and multiple ill-defined centrilobular nodules in both lungs, suggesting military tuberculosis or nontuberculous mycobacterial infection. A video-assisted thoracoscopic lung biopsy resulted in the diagnosis of BIP. Clinical symptoms, pulmonary lesions, and pulmonary function tests were improved after oral glucocorticoid therapy.

Key Words: Interstitial lung diseases, Bronchiolitis, Bronchiolitis obliterans