Chest
Selected ReportsShark Oil Pneumonia: An Overlooked Entity
Section snippets
CASE REPORT
A 46-year-old hypertensive Korean man was admitted to Flushing Hospital complaining of three days of progressive left facial and extremity weakness. He denied taking any medications.
On physical examination, the only abnormal finding was a dense left hemiplegia with a left central facial nerve paralysis.
Laboratory studies at the time of hospital admission included a normal complete blood cell count, electrolytes, and urinalysis. The aspartate aminotransferase was 67 U/L, alanine aminotransferase
DISCUSSION
Lipoid pneumonia is divided into endogenous and exogenous forms. In the case of endogenous (cholesterol) pneumonia, the fatty materials are derived from the lung itself as in malignant obstructing bronchial tumors or bronchiectasis. In the more commonplace exogenous lipoid pneumonia, lipids enter the lung parenchyma as a result of aspiration.3 The effects on the lung are primarily related to the content of fatty acid: vegetable oils such as poppyseed and sesame produce little if any pulmonary
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank Mr. Jack Rush, BPA, our photographer, and Dr. Nak Chin Chung for his kind referral.
REFERENCES (5)
- et al.
Evaluation of lipoid pneumonia
Dis Chest
(1959) Studies of pneumonia following naso-pharyngeal injections of oil
Am J Pathol
(1925)