A Case of Autoimmune Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis With Predominantly Peripheral Opacities Diagnosed by Transbronchial Lung Biopsy

Abstract

Although pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) showed various shadows, its shadows are usually distributed predominantly in the central lung area. We report a case of autoimmune PAP with localized subpleural ground-glass shadows in the bilateral upper lobes, which was diagnosed based on transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) specimen findings and anti-granulocyte macrophage colony PAP stimulating factor antibody positivity. PAP should be listed as a differential diagnosis for subpleural shadows. If subpleural shadows are observed, TBLB should be performed aggressively, and anti-granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (anti-GM-CSF) antibodies should be submitted.

Keywords: anti-gm-csf antibody; autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis; ground-glass shadow; subpleural; transbronchial lung biopsy.