Radiology, Vol 133, 587-592, Copyright © 1979 by Radiological Society of North America
Pulmonary interstitial changes following bone marrow transplantation
NF Khouri, R Saral, EM Armstrong, PJ Tutschka, GW Santos, WE Beschorner and SS Siegelman
Observations of 20 consecutive bone marrow transplantation recipients
disclosed two distinctive categories of pulmonary interstitial changes.
Interstitial infiltrates occurring less than 14 days after transplantation
were observed in 13 of 20 patients and are believed to represent pulmonary
edema. A late pulmonary interstitial process, which appears more than 30
days following transplantation (median 57 days), was encountered in 10 of
14 patients with successful grafts; the late changes represent interstitial
pneumonia, a common cause of morbidity and mortality following bone marrow
transplantation. It is probably attributable to a combination of factors
including the preparatory chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and delayed
immunologic reconstitution following transplantation.
