Acute fibrinous and organising pneumonia presenting as complete lung consolidation

Mittal V, Kulshrestha R, Arya A, Bajaj P
Correspondence: Dr Vikas Mittal, waytovikas@yahoo.co.in

ABSTRACT
Acute fibrinous and organising pneumonia (AFOP) is an unusual histopathological pattern of acute lung injury. The clinical manifestations, course and treatment of AFOP have yet to be characterised. All reported cases so far have described bilateral diffuse lung involvement radiologically. We report a case of an adolescent girl who presented with acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure with unilateral complete lung consolidation. She was initially diagnosed with severe community-acquired pneumonia. A computed tomography-guided percutaneous transthoracic trucut biopsy of the left lung revealed the classical histopathological pattern typically observed in AFOP. The patient responded well to treatment involving steroids. The uniqueness of such a presentation in AFOP prompted us to report this case.

Keywords: acute fibrinous and organising pneumonia, consolidation, pulmonary histopathology
Singapore Med J 2011; 52(5): e88-e90