title: Successful treatment with chemotherapy and corticosteroids of pulmonary Mycobacterium abscessus infection accompanied by pleural effusion.
abstract: We describe a 50-year-old woman with rapidly progressive pulmonary Mycobacterium abscessus (M. abscessus) infection accompanied by pleural effusion and organizing pneumonia (OP). CT scan showed consolidation, centrilobular shadows, ground-glass opacity (GGO), and cavities. A transbronchial lung biopsy showed nonnecrotizing granuloma surrounded by infiltrative lymphocyte-dominant inflammatory cells, and lymphocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were increased. We considered OP occurred secondary to M. abscessus infection because clarithromycin, amikacin, and imipenem/cilastatin administration resulted in partial improvement. We added corticosteroids to the regimen, which resulted in a remarkable improvement. We report a case of pulmonary M. abscessus infection involving pleural effusion that responded favorably to medical therapy including corticosteroids.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Cellular Transplantation Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, 920-8641, Japan, akihito@staff.kanazawa-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Akihito
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okazaki
authors.forename: Hazuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takato
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujimura
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ohkura
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Katayama
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kasahara
mesh_terms: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D009170:Nontuberculous Mycobacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents