Clinical characteristics of 14 patients with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia / 中国医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To summarize the clinical characteristics of patients with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia (CEP), so as to provide reference for clinicians and improve the level of diagnosis and treatment.Methods:14 patients who met the diagnostic criteria of CEP in Xiangya Second Hospital of Central South University from January 2012 to July 2021 were analyzed retrospectively. Their clinical manifestations, laboratory examination, imaging characteristics, diagnosis and treatment were analyzed.Results:The male to female ratio of 14 patients with CEP was 6∶1, with a median age of 51 years. 3 patients had allergic rhinitis, sinusitis, rash and other allergic history. The course of the disease was about 4 months. The common symptoms included cough (14 cases), expectoration (13 cases), shortness of breath (10 cases), and occasional extrathoracic symptoms such as rash and lymphadenopathy (2 cases). Eight patients had abnormal pulmonary auscultation, mainly coarse respiratory sounds of both lungs and scattered dry and wet rales. The eosinophil count (EOS) in peripheral blood was increased in all patients, and the median EOS count was about 1.42×10 9/L. Total serum IgE increased in 11 patients, of which 10 cases were more than 1 000 ng/ml. Pulmonary function tests were performed in 11 patients, including 5 cases of normal pulmonary function, 3 cases of obstructive ventilation dysfunction and 3 cases of restrictive ventilation dysfunction. All 14 patients underwent lung computer tomography (CT) examination. Most of them (13 cases) were double lung infiltration. The pathological signs were mainly patch shadow (6 cases), ground glass shadow (4 cases), grid shadow (3 cases) and consolidation shadow (3 cases), and scattered nodule shadow (3 cases) was seen in some cases; Mediastinal or hilar lymphadenopathy occurred in 6 patients. 9 patients underwent bronchoscopic alveolar lavage (BAL) and cell classification and counting. Only 3 cases had EOS counts higher than the normal value (normal value<3%). 10 patients underwent bronchoscopic lung biopsy, and 6 patients had EOS infiltration in lung tissue. 9 patients were treated with glucocorticoids, 8 patients were treated with oral corticosteroids (OCS) (prednisone or methylprednisolone), and the initial dose was 30-50 mg; One case was treated with budesonide atomization alone; Five patients were not diagnosed with CEP, only used antibiotics or other symptomatic treatment, and did not use hormones. Conclusions:As a rare pulmonary disease, CEP has no specific clinical manifestations. The common symptoms are cough, expectoration, shortness of breath, etc, which is easily misdiagnosed. Laboratory tests often indicate increased peripheral blood EOS count and total IgE, and imaging usually shows diffuse infiltration in both lungs, with lymph node enlargement. OCS therapy is the first-line treatment for CEP. The short-term prognosis after OCS treatment is good, but it is prone to relapse. Some novel monoclonal antibody biologics can be used as alternative therapy.