Autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis following pulmonary aspergillosis

Abstract

A 59-year-old man, ex-smoker, was diagnosed with pulmonary aspergillosis according to chest radiography findings of a fungus ball and Aspergillus fumigatus detection in the bronchial lavage fluid. Two years after anti-fungal therapy, he was diagnosed with autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (APAP) according to a crazy paving pattern in computed tomography scans of the chest, milky bronchoalveolar lavage effluent, and positive anti-granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) autoantibody in the serum. The patient ultimately died of respiratory failure caused by APAP four months after GM-CSF therapy commenced. Aspergillus infection may thus be associated with the onset and progression of APAP and tolerance to GM-CSF therapy.