Chest
Volume 103, Issue 3, March 1993, Pages 976-977
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Selected Reports
Shark Oil Pneumonia: An Overlooked Entity

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Nonprescription drugs are often believed to be innocuous. We present a case of lipoid pneumonia from ingestion of squalene, a derivative of shark liver oil, a popular over-the-counter Asian folk remedy.

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)

  • RH Sundberg et al.

    Evaluation of lipoid pneumonia

    Dis Chest

    (1959)
  • GF Laughlin

    Studies of pneumonia following naso-pharyngeal injections of oil

    Am J Pathol

    (1925)
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