Acute fibrinous and organizing pneumonia

Abstract

The term Acute Fibrinous and Organizing Pneumonia (AFOP) has been proposed by Beasley et al for cases that do not fit into the histopathologic criteria of the recognized entities described as acute or subacute clinical presentations. The presence of intra-alveolar fibrin in the form of fibrin "balls" and organizing pneumonia with patchy distribution are the main histological features of this entity. We describe the case of a male patient with the diagnostic of AFOP made by surgical lung biopsy. He had a subacute presentation of symptoms consisting of productive cough, chest pain and fever. Bilateral infiltrates with patchy and diffuse distribution were the predominant features in his chest HRCT scan. The patient had a good clinical course after a treatment with prednisone and cyclophosphamide. Our hope in reporting this case study is to add some more data to the discussion of this new entity.