title: Pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis in childhood: diagnosis by transbronchial biopsy.
abstract: A 7-year-old girl of Arabic origin by consanguineous parents presented with a miliary pattern on chest x-ray. Transbronchial lung biopsy revealed a histological diagnosis of pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis, a condition rarely described in childhood. This report highlights the clinical and radiological features, documents the transbronchial lung biopsy as a useful diagnostic procedure, and suggests a possible genetic etiology with autosomal recessive inheritance.
authors.affiliation: Respiratory Medicine Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London, UK.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wallis
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Whitehead
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malone
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dinwiddie
mesh_terms: D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D002137:Calculi / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed