Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Apr 26, 2021; 9(12): 2874-2883
Published online Apr 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i12.2874
Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis complicated with nocardiosis: A case report and review of the literature
Xiao-Kang Wu, Quan Lin
Xiao-Kang Wu, Quan Lin, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325015, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Lin Q and Wu XK treated the patient; Lin Q performed the histological examination and analysis of the biopsied specimen; Wu XK drafted the manuscript and submitted the final manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient and patient’s family for publication of this case report and accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests to report.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Quan Lin, MM, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, New Hospital of Nanbaixiang Wen Hospital, Nanbaixiang Street, Ouhai District, Wenzhou 325015, Zhejiang Province, China. lquan007@163.com
Received: December 1, 2020
Peer-review started: December 1, 2020
First decision: January 17, 2021
Revised: January 26, 2021
Accepted: February 22, 2021
Article in press: February 22, 2021
Published online: April 26, 2021
Processing time: 134 Days and 14.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: We present the case of a patient suffering from simultaneous primary pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) and nocardiosis. This case highlights the importance of considering the potential for nocardiosis when evaluating patients presenting with PAP and pulmonary infections. The successful management of our case also shows that active anti-nocardia treatment may effectively alleviate the concomitant PAP and may also reduce the need for whole-lung lavage.