A 63 year old Turkish woman with recurrent pneumonia
The differential diagnosis of a sinubronchial syndrome includes cystic fibrosis, allergic bronchopulmonic aspergillosis, Kartagener's syndrome, hypogammaglobulinemia and bronchioli-associated processes. The latter include cryptogenic organising pneumonia, constrictive bronchiolitis obliterans as well as the respiratory bronchiolitis. Our case presented a persistent interstitial shadow in the x-rax of the thorax and a relevant, mixed ventilation disturbance in lung function. A surgically performed lung biopsy finally allowed the diagnosis of diffuse panbronchiolitis, which is seldom found in central Europe. This disease is of unknown etiology and responds to long-term macrolide therapy.