BUSULPHAN LUNG

The records of 47 patients diagnosed as having chronic granulocytic leukæmia between January, 1951, and December, 1963, have been reviewed. All are now deceased. Forty had been treated with busulphan. Autopsies were carried out on 25 and an additional patient had a lung biopsy. Of these 26 patients, significant changes (cytomegaly and fibrosing alveolitis) were found in 3 (2 previously reported), all of whom had received prolonged busulphan therapy. This incidence, 3 of 26, is less than that (6 of 14) reported by Heard and Cooke (1968), possibly because they included cases with relatively minor non‐specific changes such as alveolar œdema. Since January, 1964, 34 patients with chronic granulocytic leukaemia have been registered by the Leukaemia and Allied Disorders Committee of the Cancer Council of Western Australia. Twenty‐three of these are deceased and 13 autopsies have been performed. Of the deceased patients who underwent autopsy none had received long‐term busulphan therapy and a review of the post‐mortem records showed that none had the histological changes of busulphan lung.