Mycoplasma pneumoniae-associated bronchiolitis causing severe restrictive lung disease in adults: report of three cases and literature review.
OBJECTIVE
To characterize adult Mycoplasma pneumoniae-induced bronchiolitis requiring hospitalization.


METHODS
We encountered an adult patient with severe bronchiolitis in the absence of pneumonia due to M. pneumoniae. To determine the relative frequency of such a condition, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of adults over a 4-year period with a hospital discharge diagnosis of "bronchiolitis" from a university hospital.


METHODS
University Hospital of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO.


METHODS
From 1994 to 1998, 10 adult inpatients were identified with a diagnosis of bronchiolitis. There were two with respiratory bronchiolitis, one with panbronchiolitis, one patient with bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP), and six with acute inflammatory bronchiolitis. Including the initial patient, three had a definitive clinical diagnosis of Mycoplasma-associated bronchiolitis.


RESULTS
The three adult patients with bronchiolitis due to M. pneumoniae are unusual because they occurred in the absence of radiographic features of a lobar or patchy alveolar pneumonia. Hospital admission was occasioned by the severity of symptoms and gas exchange abnormalities. One patient had bronchiolitis as well as organizing pneumonia (BOOP) that responded favorably to corticosteroid treatment. The other two had high-resolution CT findings diagnostic of an acute inflammatory bronchiolitis. One of the patients with inflammatory bronchiolitis had an unusual pattern of marked ventilation and perfusion defects localized predominantly to the left lung. All three had restrictive ventilatory impairment on physiologic testing.


CONCLUSIONS
In adults, Mycoplasma-associated bronchiolitis without pneumonia is rarely reported, but in hospitalized patients, it may be more common than expected and may be associated with severe physiologic disturbances.
Chan
E D
ED
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and Department of Medicine, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver 80262, USA.
Kalayanamit
T
T
Lynch
D A
DA
Tuder
R
R
Arndt
P
P
Winn
R
R
Schwarz
M I
MI
D000328:Adult; D001988:Bronchiolitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000628:therapy; D018549:Cryptogenic Organizing Pneumonia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009175:Mycoplasma Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D009177:Mycoplasma pneumoniae; D012189:Retrospective Studies