Clinical Review Of 6 Cases With Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis

Objective Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare disease. Misdiagnosis frequently happen because of unfamiliarity with the disease. We summarized clinical material and evaluated treatment of whole lung lavage in patients with PAP.Methods A retrospective analysis of 6 cases who were diagnosed of PAP with pathological evidences from June 2003 to September 2006 in the second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University was made.Results PAP is a clinical manifestation of cough progressing dyspnea and lowered breath sound. Chest X-ray shows a diffuse ground glass pattern of both lungs with patches nodules or reticular infliltrates, CT scan demonstrates map-like patohes with a pavestone pattern. Thediagnosis should be made with pathological evidences. Up-to-date, the only effective treatment is whole lung lavage, which is an effective and safe way to treat the patients .Conclusion There were 5 cases had significant improvement in clinical manifestation, chest CT scan, ABG and pulmonary function tests.