Muscle pain, fever, cough, and progressive dyspnea in a woman with eosinophilic pneumonia.

Xu, Z; Fan, Y; Wang, G S; Wu, G M

The diagnosis of eosinophilic pneumonia (EP) is rare and challenging. This condition is frequently misdiagnosed as pulmonary tuberculosis, lymphoma, schistosomiasis, Wegener's granuloma, severe acute respiratory syndrome, or severe community-acquired pneumonia. Herein, we report a case in which computed tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous lung biopsy was used to diagnose EP without alveolar eosinophilia or peripheral eosinophilia. A roundworm identified in the patient's stool confirmed the precise diagnosis to be parasitic EP. This is, to our knowledge, the first reported case of EP confirmed by CT-guided percutaneous lung biopsy. CT-guided percutaneous lung biopsy may represent a new tool for the diagnosis of EP in patients without typical alveolar eosinophilia or peripheral eosinophilia.