title: A case of asymptomatic, localized, and idiopathic diffuse alveolar damage.
abstract: Diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) is a histological change in lung tissue, and is generally caused by an acute lung injury, which is characterized by bilateral and widespread damages. Localized DAD occurs very rarely. The causes for DAD are numerous, but the chief cause is acute interstitial pneumonia or acute exacerbation of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia, in cases of idiopathic manifestation. The 82-year-old patient, in this case study, showed a DAD lesion in only 1 lobe. The patient was otherwise healthy, with no previous symptoms of DAD. He was admitted to our medical center owing to localized infiltration, observed on his chest radiograph. Laboratory studies showed no signs of infections. DAD was confirmed by a surgical lung biopsy. The patient received corticosteroid treatment and had gradually improved. We report the case of a patient with localized, idiopathic DAD that cannot be classified as acute interstitial pneumonia or acute exacerbation of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Young Do
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: H Christian
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Joon Sung
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Joh
authors.forename: Ja Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Ji Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Min
authors.forename: Seon Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Ga Ram
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Lee