[Eosinophilic lungs]

Abstract

Eosinophilic pneumonias are characterized by the occurrence, at one moment or another, of radiological opacities in the lungs classically--though inconstantly--associated with an excess of eosinophils in peripheral blood. The syndrome is mostly of diagnostic value, being due to various causes (parasites, fungi, drugs, etc.) and encountered in several and not always well-defined pathological conditions, such as vasculitis, Carrington's chronic eosinophilic pneumonia, malignant hypereosinophilia and others. What is known of the physiology of eosinophilic granular leucocytes has thrown no light, so far, on the pathogenesis of this syndrome, and causes other than those already known cannot be ruled out. Even after well-conducted investigations, the aetiology of the syndrome is sometimes impossible to determine. In such cases, the need for a lung biopsy and, only afterwards, for a test corticosteroid therapy ought to be discussed.