title: Macrolide therapy in cryptogenic organizing pneumonia: A case report and literature review.
abstract: Cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP) is a pulmonary disorder associated with nonspecific clinical presentations. The macrolide class of antimicrobial agents is widely used to treat infectious and inflammatory respiratory diseases in humans. The present study reports a case of COP that was effectively treated with azithromycin in combination with glucocorticoid. A literature review of similar cases is also presented. It was found that all COP patients in the literature received macrolide treatment, including six cases with unknown clinical outcomes. For the remaining 29 patients, 20 patients initially received the macrolide as a single therapy and 4/5 of them (16 cases) were cured with a treatment time of 3-14 months, while 1/5 (4 cases) showed no improvement after treatment for 1 month and were switched to a glucocorticoid or combination treatment with a glucocorticoid, after which the disease was finally well-controlled. Side-effects of macrolide were rare. Based on this analysis, it is recommended that macrolides can be used as a first-line therapy in patients with mild COP. For patients with recurrent COP, it is suggested that macrolides should be used as an adjunctive therapy with other treatments, such as a glucocorticoid.
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315020, P.R. China.
authors: Qun-Li
authors: QL
authors: Ding
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315020, P.R. China.
authors: Dan
authors: D
authors: Lv
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315020, P.R. China.
authors: Bi-Jiong
authors: BJ
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315020, P.R. China.
authors: Qiao-Li
authors: QL
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315020, P.R. China.
authors: Yi-Ming
authors: YM
authors: Yu
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315020, P.R. China.
authors: Shi-Fang
authors: SF
authors: Sun
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315020, P.R. China.
authors: Zhong-Bo
authors: ZB
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315020, P.R. China.
authors: Hong-Ying
authors: HY
authors: Ma
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315020, P.R. China.
authors: Zai-Chun
authors: ZC
authors: Deng
keywords: azithromycin; glucocorticoid; inflammation; macrolide; organizing pneumonia; treatment