Tuberc Respir Dis.  1996 Aug;43(4):613-622. 10.4046/trd.1996.43.4.613.

Constrictive Bronchiolitis Accompanied By Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Chunan, Korea.
  • 2Department of Radiology, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Chunan, Korea.
  • 3Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Chunan, Korea.

Abstract

Constrictive bronchiolitis, one of small airway diseases, is very rare and occupies one of the two arms of bronchiolitis obliterans together with proliferative bronchiolitis. Proliferative bronchiolitis, presenting the prototype with bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia(BOOP), can be easily taken into diagnostic consideration in terms of relatively rapid clinical course and radiologic presentation as if atypical pneumonia with interstitial and alveolar infiltrations. Meanwhile constrictive bronchiolitis is not only very rare but also easily overlooked as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as emphysema, because it usually shows normal chest radiographic finding and obstructive pattern in pulmonary function test. In the aspects of the reponse to treatment, proliferative bronchiolitis showed dramatic response to the corticosteroid while constrictive bronchiolitis is intractable, which is easily explained on the basis of the pathologic characteristics of cicartrical replacement of bronchiolar walls. The bronchiolitis, both proliferative and constrictive, can be associated with diverse conditions such as inhalational injury, postinfectious process, drug or chemical induced reactions, connective tissue diseases, and organ trasplantation. And there is idiopathic type which has no associated condition. There is one explanation that both types of bronchiolitis lie on the same disease spectrum because the different disease pattern can be evoked from the same etiology. In contrast, another explanation is suggested that both types of bronchiolitis are one of nonspecific tissue reaction rather than a disease specific histologic finding because the various types of causes can provoke the same histologic findings. These dilemma remains for further investigation. With literature investigation, the authors report a case of constrictive bronchiolitis proven by open lung biopsy in 47 year old female who was diagnosed as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and simultaneously had relatively rapid progression of airflow obstruction and showed negative radiographic finding without the risk factors for the development of chronic obstructive lung disease. We consider it as idiopathic because we could not find any relationship between constrictive bronchiolitis and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on the literature search and it requires further investigation.

Keyword

Bronchiolitis obliterans; Constrictive bronchiolitis; BOOP; NHL

MeSH Terms

Arm
Biopsy
Bronchiolitis
Bronchiolitis Obliterans*
Connective Tissue Diseases
Cryptogenic Organizing Pneumonia
Emphysema
Female
Humans
Lung
Lung Diseases, Obstructive
Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin*
Pneumonia
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive
Radiography, Thoracic
Respiratory Function Tests
Risk Factors
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