Sixteen cases of chronic eosinophilic pneumonia (CEP) were subjected to analyse the usefulness of transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) in the diagnosis of this disease. The eosinophil count in peripheral blood was 4311/p1 on the average at the first visit. Eight patients received TBLB prior to the corticosteroid therapy revealed the eosinophil infiltration in lung tissues. TBLB was performed within 9 days after corticosteroid administration in 4 cases, and eosinophil infiltration was observed in 3 cases. Remaining 4 cases received TBLB more than 9 days after initiation of corticosteroid therapy showed no eosinophil infiltration in lung tissues. However, eosinophil infiltration was observed in patients whose chest X-ray film showed an abnormal shadow.
Eosinophil count in bronchoalveolar fluid was consistent with histological findings.
These results indicate that TBLB should be performed to diagnose CEP before the administration of corticosteroid and to confirm histopathologically the lesions when the abnormal shadow was still present in the chest X-ray film after the steroid therapy.
