We herein report a 73-year-old Japanese woman with metastatic thymic carcinoma who developed diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) during irinotecan chemotherapy. She presented with a mild fever and exertional dyspnea after the second cycle of weekly irinotecan monotherapy. Chest images showed diffuse ground-glass opacities. The diagnosis of DAH was based on the findings of the bronchoalveolar lava...

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) occurs frequently in individuals infected with the HIV virus. Malignancy, immunosuppressive drugs, and congenital immune deficiency may be associated with PCP. We describe a patient with stage 1 testicular carcinoma who developed hypoxemic respiratory failure two days after retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. Pneumocystis carinii organisms were demonstrat...

At an intermediate or advanced stage, i.e. stage B or C, based on the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer classification of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) may be offered as a treatment of palliative intent. We report the case of a patient suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome after TACE with drug-eluting beads loaded with doxorubicin for HCC. To ou...

Diarrhoea, T-CD4+ lymphopenia and bilateral patchy pulmonary infiltrates developed in a male 60 yrs of age, who was treated with oxaliplatinum and 5-fluorouracil for unresectable rectum carcinoma. The findings from transbronchial lung biopsy and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) were consistent with an organizing diffuse alveolar damage pattern. Once extensive microbiological studies proved negative...

A 66-year-old male treated with everolimus for renal cell carcinoma developed exertional dyspnea. Chest computed tomography revealed diffuse interstitial shadows on both lungs. Bronchoalveolar lavage and the drug-induced lymphocyte stimulation test confirmed the diagnosis of drug-induced interstitial lung disease due to everolimus therapy. However, discontinuation of everolimus in combination w...

the frequency of fungal infections in immunocompromised patients, particularly by candida species, has increased in recent years. colonization by candida species in respiratory tract in susceptible hosts may play an important role to precede disseminated candidiasis. this study was designed to identify candida species from bronchoalveolar lavage (bal) samples and determination of antifungal sus...

conclusions in molecular epidemiology studies, nested pcr has higher sensitivity than pcr. results of this study support the colonization of p. jiroveci in patients receiving lung transplantation. patients who are carriers of p. jiroveci are at a higher risk of p. jiroveci pneumonia. results the genome of p. jiroveci was revealed by a 346 bp pcr product in the initial amplification and a 120 bp...

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is a relatively new technique for assessment of the alveolar compartment of the lung. Its current clinical applications are the initial assessment of acute and chronic diffuse interstitial lung disease and the diagnosis of pulmonary infections, especially in the immunocompromised host. In addition, BAL provides information on the pathophysiology of diffuse interstit...