Abstract
A 61-year-old male was diagnosed as chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) in 1985 and had been treated with busulfan for 4 years and 5 months (total 3,572 mg). Since he had complained dyspnea with abnormal lung shadow on a chest x-ray film in May 31 1989, he was treated with 3 mg/day of dexamethasone under a diagnosis of busulfan lung. Dyspnea and lung shadow was remarkably improved after the treatment.
On July 11, he was admitted our hospital with high fever, hypoxemia and diffuse interstitial shadow on a chest x-p. Although intensive treatment with 10 mg/day of dexamethasone and various antibiotics were done, he died in Aug 6. An autopsy revealed the intra-alveolar fibrosis, dense hyaline deposits in alveoli associated with atypical type II epithelial cells in the lung. Seven cases of busulfan lung have been reported in the Japanese literature. The clinical and pathological aspects of these cases, including our case, were discussed.
