Volume 180 - Issue 9
A pulmonary snowstorm
Authors: Bobby Bhalotra, Atul Gogia, Pratibha Gupta and Neeraj Jain
Med J Aust 2004; 180 (9): 454. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2004.tb06021.x
Published online: 3 May 2004
Published online: 3 May 2004
A 28-year-old man presented with a cough of one month’s duration and intermittent fever. Physical examination showed reduced breath sounds and fine inspiratory crackles at both lung bases. A chest x-ray showed diffuse micronodules in both lung fields, and a computed tomography scan revealed tiny calculi (calco-spherites) in the alveolar air spaces (Box).
Pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis is a rare disease of unknown aetiology; about 400 cases have been reported. Patients can present with any of a variety of chest symptoms (eg, a non-productive cough and dyspnoea on exertion). Most reported cases involve people in the 20 to 50 years age group. About 50% of cases are familial. There is no definitive treatment, but disodium etidronate has been tried. The prognosis is variable. It has been suggested that, in many patients, the microliths continue to form and increase in size as the disease progresses. When the disease does progress, it may do so very slowly — patients have been reported in whom respiratory failure and death ensued after a period as long as 40 years.
Uneven Ground: Survival Differences Among Victorian Lung Cancer Patients by Location of Residence (2011–2023): A Retrospective Cohort Study
Evangeline Samuel, Eldho Paul, Mike Lloyd, Sanuki Tissera, Craig Underhill, Sagun Parakh, Phillip Parente, Inger Olesen, Javier Torres, Katharine See, Gavin M. Wright, David Langton, Thomas John, Matthew Conron, James Bartlett, Nicola Atkin, Nikolajs Zeps, Susan V. Harden, Wasek Faisal, John R. Zalcberg, Rob G. Stirling
Treatment and Survival Outcomes for Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians Within the Victorian Lung Cancer Registry: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Cohort Study
Melanie Wong, Mike Lloyd, Jessie Zeng, Sanuki Tissera, Kalinda E. Griffiths, Justine Clark, Jonathan Gillies, Lisa Briggs, Jacqueline Lesage, Tom Wood, Craig Underhill, Sagun Parakh, Louis B. Irving, Wasek Faisal, Rob Blum, Gary E. Richardson, Phillip Parente, Michelle Caldecott, Inger Olesen, Javier Torres, Evangeline Samuel, Christopher Lyne, Katharine See, David Langton, Thomas John, Gavin Wright, Matthew Conron, James Bartlett, Golsa Adabi, Maggie Moore, Susan Harden, Zoe K. McQuilten, John R. Zalcberg, Rob Stirling
Worsening Asthma Outcomes in Australian Adults: A Comparison of Stratified Sample Surveys in 2012 and 2021
Helen K. Reddel, Maria R. Ampon, Leanne M. Poulos, Sharon R. Davis, Brett G. Toelle, Guy B. Marks, Taehoon Lee
Impact of the 2025 New South Wales Respiratory Syncytial Virus Prevention Program on Infant Notifications and Hospitalisations: A Population-Based Analysis
Janaki Amin, Sally L. Ellis, Christopher Lambeth, Jessica Gugusheff, Christine Selvey
Spatial and Temporal Patterns in Childhood and Adolescent Asthma Hospitalisations in Queensland, Australia: A 20-Year Ecological Study Across Climate Zones
Jialu Wang, Javier Cortes-Ramirez, Janet Davies, Wenbiao Hu
Defining “cure” for the asthmas
Dennis Thomas, Vanessa M McDonald, Peter G Gibson, Richard Y Kim