Abstract

Pulmonary alveolary proteinosis (PAP) is characterized by the accumulation of phospholipids and proteinaceous material in the alveoli and distal airways. In this report, a case of PAP associated with femoral artery thrombosis is presented. A thirty-eight year-old female presented with dyspnea and ecchymoses on her left leg. The patient had undergone arterial embolectomy because of femoral artery thrombosis. She had coalescent acinar infiltrations, reticular pattern and homogeneous dense consolidation on her chest X-ray. Diagnostic BAL was performed under general anesthesia. Following the confirmation of diagnosis with BAL, bronchoscopy was continued with the therapeutic BAL procedure. Unilateral ventilation with 100% oxygen was applied but the patient was not able to tolerate the procedure. Segmental BAL with fiberoptic bronchoscope was performed. In spite of ventilatory support with invasive mechanical ventilation, the patient was lost due to acute respiratory and renal insufficiency. The diagnosis of PAP was confirmed by the pathological analysis of postmortem lung biopsy. (Tur Toraks Der 2008;9:177-80)