Abstract
A total of 244 respiratory diseases were studied. In 51 cases with interstitial lung diseases including 19 cases with idiopathic interstitial pneumonitis (IIP), superoxide production (SOP) by neutrophils was examined by cytochrome C reduction.
The following results were obtained.
1) In patients with IIP, SOP by neutrophils was higher compared with control and other lung diseases.
2) The group of interstitial lung diseases which were considered as indications of steroid had significantly higher SOP (p<0.01) than the group of untreated cases.
3) A significant correlation were observed between SOP and PaO2 (R=-0.496, p<0.01), and SOP and A-aDO2 (R=-0.603, p<0.01) in patients with interstitial lung diseases.
4) The marked increase of SOP was found in patients developing radiation pneumonitis on chest X-ray film.
5) In relapsing cases under steroid therapy, re-increase of SOP was observed.
The present results indicate that measurement of SOP by neutrophils in patients with interstitial lung diseases is not only instructive to determine the application of steroid therapy, but also may be a good parameter for reducing the dose of steroid. Furthermore measurement of SOP is very useful to descriminate between radiation pneumonitis and other pneumonia in patients of primary lung cancer received irradiation therapy.
