J Korean Med Sci.  2001 Apr;16(2):150-154. 10.3346/jkms.2001.16.2.150.

A clinicopathologic study on three cases of constrictive bronchiolitis

• Myong NH
• Shin DH
• Lee KY

• KMID: 648249
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2001.16.2.150

Abstract

We describe the characteristic clinical and pathologic findings of three cases of constrictive bronchiolitis. All three patients were middle-aged women with chronic respiratory illness characterized by chronic cough, dyspnea, mild to severe obstructive pulmonary dysfunction, relatively normal chest radiographs with occasional peribronchial infiltration, and lack of response to bronchodilators or prednisolone. The patients also had medical diseases such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and hyperprolactinemia in case 1 and 3, respectively. None of the patients smoked cigarettes and had clinical evidence of recent viral lower respiratory tract infection. Histologic study by open lung biopsy revealed a spectrum of changes ranging from active cellular bronchiolitis to obliterative peribronchiolar fibrosis. The intervening interstitial and alveolar areas showed no remarkable lesion. Immunohistochemically, the bronchiolar or peribronchiolar inflammatory infiltrates mainly comprised of mixed T- and B-lymphocytes. It may be possible that the active form of constrictive bronchiolitis is initiated by attendant lymphocytic inflammation of the airways, which is followed by fibrous obliteration of bronchioles.

Keyword

Bronchiolitis, Constrictive; T-Lymphocytes; Fibrosis

MeSH Terms

Adult
Biopsy
Bronchiolitis/immunology/*pathology
Bronchoconstriction/*immunology
Female
Human
Middle Age
Pulmonary Fibrosis/immunology/pathology
T-Lymphocytes/immunology