Bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia in the patient with non-small cell lung cancer treated with docetaxel/cisplatin chemotherapy: A case report

A 60-year-old man was diagnosed with stage IV squamous cell carcinoma of lung and treated with weekly doses of docetaxel and cisplatin. Tumor mass and mediastinal lymphadenopathy disappeared after 4.5 cycles of chemotherapy. At one week post final chemotherapy, the patients developed sudden shortness of breath. New, multifocal infiltrations developed on both lungs without definitive evidence of infection. Despite administration of broad spectrum antibiotics, the lung lesion did not improve, so bronchoalveolar lavage and computed tomography-guided lung biopsy were performed. The proportion of lymphocytes was increased markedly and histopathology revealed squamous cell carcinoma combined with bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia. After high dose corticosteroid therapy, dyspnea and the newly developed consolidation had decreased slightly. However, dyspnea and hypoxemia increased again because of aggravated lung cancer since chemotherapy had stopped. Chemotherapy couldn' t be restarted due to the poor performance status of the patient. Later, patient died of respiratory failure from poor general condition and progression of lung cancer. Copyright