title: Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome-related pulmonary involvement diagnosed by bronchoalveolar lavage.
abstract: Patients with HES and pulmonary infiltrates may pose certain diagnostic problems as the infiltrates may be attributed to infection, infarction, congestive heart failure, or HES itself. We report an 87-year-old woman with idiopathic HES presenting with bibasal alveolar infiltrates. Differential cell count in BAL fluid yielded a very high percentage (73 percent) of eosinophils. Other authors previously mentioned the absence of eosinophils in the lavage fluid despite an important peripheral eosinophilia in a patient with the idiopathic HES but without HES-related pulmonary involvement. Thus, BAL fluid eosinophilia may suggest HES-related pulmonary involvement. Therefore, BAL might be an important diagnostic tool in the management of pulmonary infiltrates in idiopathic HES.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pneumology, Vrije Universiteit, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Slabbynck
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Impens
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naegels
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dewaele
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schandevyl
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000166:cytology* / Q000382:microbiology; D003371:Cough / Q000175:diagnosis; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011657:Pulmonary Eosinophilia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013577:Syndrome