title: Whole-lung lavage in alveolar proteinosis by a modified lavage technique.
abstract: Whole-lung lavage is the only efficient treatment in pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. A 36-year-old woman with severe pulmonary alveolar proteinosis confirmed by video-assisted thoracoscopic lung biopsies underwent repetitive whole-lung lavages without improvement. A modified technique consisting of manual ventilation between instillation and aspiration of half the amount of saline used for conventional lavage was applied. Impressive clinical and functional improvement occurred and persisted for 1 year. We believe that the amelioration can be attributed to the technique described above.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bingisser
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zollinger
authors.forename: E W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Russi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018893:Bronchoalveolar Lavage / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011649:Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis / Q000628:therapy*; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride