BRONCHIOLITIS OBLITERANS ORGANIZED PNEUMO NIA - CLINICAL AND EVOLUTIVE FEATURES

A series is here reported of eleven patients with the histological dia gnosis of bronchiolitis obliterans with organized pneumonia (BOOP) and the clinical course after one year of corticosteroid therapy. Four pa tients had idiopathic BOOF, one patient ROOF secondary to bone marrow transplantation and the other six patients had BOOF secondary to inhal ation of toxic substances (Ardystil syndrome). The most common radiolo gical feature at the onset of the disease was the presence of bilatera l patchy infiltrates; the most common functional finding was a decreas ed diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide. After one year of follow-up , seven out of the ten patients still alive had a normal radiology and all showed a significat improvement in ventilatory and gasometric par ameters.