[A case of pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis originally treated as bronchial asthma].
The subject was a 37-year-old woman in whom bronchial asthma had been diagnosed, for which inhaled steroid and theophylline had been prescribed for about nine months. Her symptoms improved temporarily, but there-after she experienced gradually worsening dyspnea on exertion. Chest radiographs showed diffuse reticulonodular shadows, but no evidence of hyperinflation or pleural effusion. Chest CT scans revealed multiple thinwalled cystic lesions in both lung fields. Pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis was confirmed by thoracoscopic lung biopsy, and medroxyprogesterone was prescribed. Her airways appeared to demonstrate hyperresponsiveness to inhaled methacholine and her symptoms resembled those of bronchial asthma. The relationship between pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis and airway hyperresponsiveness should be considered in future.