A Case of Bronchiolitis Obliterans Organizing Pneumonia (BOOP) Showing Spontaneous Remission After Open Lung Biopsy

Abstract

A 64-year-old Japanese woman was hospitalized in September 1986 with exertional dyspnea of three-month's duration. She had worked at a factory for eight years until that time wiping materials composed of phenol resin. A chest X-ray showed bibasilar milliary mottling. Pulmonary function tests showed restrictive dysfunction with hypoxemia after exercise. A diagnosis of bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) which was idiopathic histologically and microbiologically was established by an open lung biopsy. As the subjective symptoms were not severe, the patient was followed without corticosteroid hormone treatment. She showed a definite spontaneous remission subjectively and objectively during the six-month period after the lung biopsy. The current concept of pulmonary lesions of interstitial pneumonia and bronchiolitis obliterans is discussed. The pulmonary lesion of BOOP is essentially a type of interstitial pneumonia, which was illustrated from the histopathologic features of the case.