Lipoid Pneumonia Associated with Paraesophageal Hernia: Angiocardiographic Study of a Case

¹ The Departments of Medicine and Radiology, The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.

An asymptomatic adult with bilateral lower lung field infiltrations went 13 years before the history of nightly ingestion of mineral oil was elicited. An unsuspected paraesophageal hernia was also found and may have contributed to mineral oil aspiration and lipoid pneumonia. Bronchography showed obstruction of the bronchi leading to the involved segments. Angiocardiography revealed avascularity of the lung in the regions of the lipoid areas, probably because the pulmonary circulation was destroyed by fibrotic changes early in the disease. A year after cessation of mineral oil ingestion the patient was asymptomatic; no change in the chest roentgenogram could be detected. Surgical repair of the paraesophageal hernia did not seem warranted because of the asymptomatic state.