Premium
Bleomycin‐associated pulmonary fibrosis: Rapidly fatal progression without chest radiotherapy
Author(s) -
Dee Gary J.,
Austin John H. M.,
Mutter George L.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.2930350215
Subject(s) - medicine , bleomycin , pulmonary fibrosis , lung fibrosis , fibrosis , radiation therapy , lung , oncology , radiology , pathology , chemotherapy
Two patients with carcinoma of the tonsil were treated with bleomycin (396 and 224 units, respectively) but not with radiotherapy. Respiratory insufficiency led to death 45 and 52 days, respectively, after onset of therapy. Chest radiographs before bleomycin therapy revealed no evidence for lung disease. Postmortem examinations showed severe interstitial and intraalveolar pulmonary fibrosis. Comparably rapid progression from radiographically normal pulmonary parenchyma to fatal fibrosis has been documented previously only in patients with thoracic neoplasia as well as, in all but one instance, either prior or concurrent chest radiotherapy. These two cases indicate that chest radiötherapy is not a necessary cofactor for the development of rapidly progressive, fatal, diffuse interstitial pulmonary fibrosis after bleomycin therapy.