Chest ACCP Member Benefits
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Guest Access | Sign In via User Name/Password
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Free
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Article Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wallaert, B
Right arrow Articles by Voisin, C
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Wallaert, B
Right arrow Articles by Voisin, C

Chest, Vol 90, 842-848, Copyright © 1986 by American College of Chest Physicians

ARTICLES

Primary biliary cirrhosis. Subclinical inflammatory alveolitis in patients with normal chest roentgenograms

B Wallaert, P Bonniere, L Prin, A Cortot, AB Tonnel and C Voisin

To determine whether a subclinical inflammatory alveolitis is associated with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), we compared the numbers and types of cells recovered by bronchoalveolar lavage from 12 patients with PBC, ten healthy control subjects, and nine patients with alcoholic cirrhosis (AC). All were free of clinical pulmonary symptoms and had normal findings on chest roentgenograms. Total BAL cell count did not differ among patients with PBC (mean 9.6 X 10(4) cells/ml), patients with AC (mean 14.8 X 10(4) cells/ml), and control subjects (mean 9.9 X 10(4) cells/ml). Patients with PBC but not patients with AC had an increased proportion of lymphocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (respectively 22.4 percent +/- 5.2 and 11.6 percent +/- 2.52 compared with the normal value of 9.9 percent +/- 1.5 p less than 0.05). In the same way, alveolar lymphocytosis of the lower respiratory tract from PBC patients predominantly comprised T4+ (helper/inducer) T- lymphocyte subset in patients showing an increased alveolar lymphocytosis. Alveolar macrophages from PBC patients showed a dramatic increased chemiluminescence response before and after stimulation by phorbol-myristate-acetate, regardless of the intensity of alveolar lymphocytosis. Thus, our data demonstrated that subclinical alveolar inflammation comprising T-lymphocytes and activated alveolar macrophages mimicking sarcoid alveolitis is present in a high proportion of patients with PBC.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 NEJMHome page
J. J. Reilly and E. J. Mark
Case 14-1998- A 49-Year-Old Woman with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis, Pulmonary Opacities, and a Pleural Effusion
N. Engl. J. Med., April 30, 1998; 338(18): 1293 - 1301.
[Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1986 by the American College of Chest Physicians.