[A case of severe radiation pneumonitis--a trial of plasma exchange].
A 77-year-old man underwent radiotherapy for the squamous cell carcinoma of the right lung. Two months after the 60Gy/30fr irradiation was completed, he complained of dyspnea and his chest X-ray showed ground glass opacities and reticular shadows in both lung fields. Severe radiation pneumonitis was diagnosed. Two grams of methylprednisolone did not improve his symptoms and on the next day his hypoxemia worsened. We then tried plasma exchange because of his critical status. His respiratory status improved rapidly after plasma exchange and his chest X-ray showed remarkable improvement 10 days later. We think this case suggests the effectiveness of plasma exchange for severe radiation pneumonitis.
Miyagawa
Tomoko
T
Department of Respiratory Medicine, National Hospital Organization Himeji Medical Center.
Mochizuki
Yoshirou
Y
Nakahara
Yasuharu
Y
Kawamura
Tetsuji
T
Sasaki
Shin
S
Morimoto
Akie
A
Tsukamoto
Hiroaki
H
Mayumi
Tetsuichirou
T
Tabata
Hisako
H
Okada
Hideaki
H
Watanabe
Etsuko
E
Gotou
Takayoshi
T
Mimura
Kazuyuki
K
Katsuda
Rinko
R
D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000532:radiotherapy; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D008297:Male; D010951:Plasma Exchange; D017564:Radiation Pneumonitis / Q000628:therapy*