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Hindawi Publishing Corporation Case Reports in Pulmonology Volume 2013, Article ID 649365, 8 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/649365 Case Report Pediatric Plastic Bronchitis: Case Report and Retrospective Comparative Analysis of Epidemiology and Pathology Rebecca Kunder, 1 Christian Kunder, 2 Heather Y. Sun, 1 Gerald Berry, 2 Anna Messner, 3 Jennifer Frankovich, 1 Stephen Roth, 1 and John Mark 1 1 Departments of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA 2 Departments of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA 3 Departments of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Rebecca Kunder; [email protected] Received 25 February 2013; Accepted 24 March 2013 Academic Editors: F. J. Aspa, T. A. Chiang, H. Matsuoka, F. Midulla, and H. Niwa Copyright © 2013 Rebecca Kunder et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Plastic bronchitis (PB) is a pathologic condition in which airway casts develop in the tracheobronchial tree causing airway obstruction. ere is no standard treatment strategy for this uncommon condition. We report an index patient treated using an emerging multimodal strategy of directly instilled and inhaled tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) as well as 13 other cases of PB at our institution between 2000 and 2012. e majority of cases (=8) occurred in patients with congenital heart disease. Clinical presentations, treatments used, histopathology of the casts, and patient outcomes are reviewed. Further discussion is focused on the epidemiology of plastic bronchitis and a systematic approach to the histologic classification of casts. Comorbid conditions identified in this study included congenital heart disease (8), pneumonia (3), and asthma (2). Our institutional prevalence rate was 6.8 per 100,000 patients, and our case fatality rate was 7%. 1. Introduction: Index Case Plastic bronchitis, an uncommon condition of obstructive airway casts, has been reported in adults and children, predominantly in association with an underlying cardiac or pulmonary pathology. In order to illustrate the disease course and the array of therapeutic options, we present an index case. is case, which also illustrates a novel multimodal approach to plastic bronchitis treatment, is one of the 14 identified through a search of the electronic medical record at our institution over a 12-year period. We report a systematic comparison of cast histology as well as calculation of plastic bronchitis prevalence and mortality. e index patient, a 3-year-old male at the time of diag- nosis with plastic bronchitis, was diagnosed with hypoplastic leſt heart syndrome by fetal echocardiography. Within hours of birth, he developed severe hypoxemia and underwent subsequent cardiac procedures including modified Norwood with placement of a right ventricle-to-pulmonary artery conduit, modified Blalock-Taussig shunt, bidirectional Glenn shunt, and extracardiac nonfenestrated Fontan. Pre-Fontan cardiac catheterization at 27 months of age showed normal pulmonary vascular resistance and an unob- structed Glenn circuit. Aſter Fontan surgery, the patient developed hypoxia and low cardiac output from presumed intraoperative right lung injury. He required venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for 5 days. e patient initially improved off of ECMO with normal Fontan pressures, but in the subsequent weeks his respiratory status declined. He developed increasing cough and 3 weeks postoperatively, expectorated a large, flesh-colored cast. e cast was spongy and consisted of irregular branches resem- bling the bronchial tree. Microscopic examination revealed fibrinous, hypocellular material (Figures 1 and 2). e patient continued to expectorate smaller casts on over the next month. His respiratory treatments included

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  • Hindawi Publishing CorporationCase Reports in PulmonologyVolume 2013, Article ID 649365, 8 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/649365

    Case ReportPediatric Plastic Bronchitis: Case Report and RetrospectiveComparative Analysis of Epidemiology and Pathology

    Rebecca Kunder,1 Christian Kunder,2 Heather Y. Sun,1 Gerald Berry,2 AnnaMessner,3

    Jennifer Frankovich,1 Stephen Roth,1 and JohnMark1

    1 Departments of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA2Departments of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA3Departments of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Correspondence should be addressed to Rebecca Kunder; [email protected]

    Received 25 February 2013; Accepted 24 March 2013

    Academic Editors: F. J. Aspa, T. A. Chiang, H. Matsuoka, F. Midulla, and H. Niwa

    Copyright 2013 Rebecca Kunder et al.This is an open access article distributed under theCreativeCommonsAttribution License,which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

    Plastic bronchitis (PB) is a pathologic condition in which airway casts develop in the tracheobronchial tree causing airwayobstruction. There is no standard treatment strategy for this uncommon condition. We report an index patient treated using anemerging multimodal strategy of directly instilled and inhaled tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) as well as 13 other cases of PBat our institution between 2000 and 2012. The majority of cases ( = 8) occurred in patients with congenital heart disease. Clinicalpresentations, treatments used, histopathology of the casts, and patient outcomes are reviewed. Further discussion is focused on theepidemiology of plastic bronchitis and a systematic approach to the histologic classification of casts. Comorbid conditions identifiedin this study included congenital heart disease (8), pneumonia (3), and asthma (2). Our institutional prevalence rate was 6.8 per100,000 patients, and our case fatality rate was 7%.

    1. Introduction: Index Case

    Plastic bronchitis, an uncommon condition of obstructiveairway casts, has been reported in adults and children,predominantly in association with an underlying cardiac orpulmonary pathology. In order to illustrate the disease courseand the array of therapeutic options, we present an indexcase. This case, which also illustrates a novel multimodalapproach to plastic bronchitis treatment, is one of the 14identified through a search of the electronicmedical record atour institution over a 12-year period. We report a systematiccomparison of cast histology as well as calculation of plasticbronchitis prevalence and mortality.

    The index patient, a 3-year-old male at the time of diag-nosis with plastic bronchitis, was diagnosed with hypoplasticleft heart syndrome by fetal echocardiography. Within hoursof birth, he developed severe hypoxemia and underwentsubsequent cardiac procedures including modified Norwood

    with placement of a right ventricle-to-pulmonary arteryconduit, modified Blalock-Taussig shunt, bidirectional Glennshunt, and extracardiac nonfenestrated Fontan.

    Pre-Fontan cardiac catheterization at 27 months of ageshowed normal pulmonary vascular resistance and an unob-structed Glenn circuit. After Fontan surgery, the patientdeveloped hypoxia and low cardiac output from presumedintraoperative right lung injury. He required venoarterialextracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for 5 days.The patient initially improved off of ECMO with normalFontan pressures, but in the subsequent weeks his respiratorystatus declined. He developed increasing cough and 3 weekspostoperatively, expectorated a large, flesh-colored cast. Thecast was spongy and consisted of irregular branches resem-bling the bronchial tree. Microscopic examination revealedfibrinous, hypocellular material (Figures 1 and 2).

    The patient continued to expectorate smaller casts onover the next month. His respiratory treatments included

  • 2 Case Reports in Pulmonology

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7(cm)

    (a)

    (b)

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10(cm)

    Figure 1: (a) Expectorated cast. (b) Extracted cast from rigid bronchoscopy.

    high-frequency chest wall oscillation (vest) chest physio-therapy, inhaled hypertonic saline, inhaled levalbuterol, andinhaled tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA). One monthafter the initial cast expectoration, he had a respiratorydeterioration and was taken for rigid bronchoscopy. Despitebronchoscopic cast removal (Figure 1(b)), the patient hadpersistent right upper lobe atelectasis on chest radiographas well as a worsening oxygen requirement. Therefore, heunderwent repeat bronchoscopy (both rigid and flexible) 3days after the first. During the secondbronchoscopy, t-PAwasdirectly instilled into the right upper lobe bronchus (15mLof 1mg/mL t-PA). A third bronchoscopy was performed 1week later with cast removal as well as repeated direct t-PAinstillation (5mL of 5mg/mL t-PA by suction catheter). Nocomplications were associated with the t-PA administeredduring the bronchoscopies.

    After these 3 bronchoscopies, the patient was weaned offsupplemental oxygen and had improved aeration on examand chest radiograph. In addition to the previously men-tioned treatments, the patient was started on azithromycin(for anti-inflammatory effects) and spironolactone, whichhas been associated with improvement in protein-losingenteropathy after Fontan surgery [1]. High-resolution com-puted tomography (CT) with angiography revealed a patentFontan pathway and no evidence of remaining casts or lungfibrosis. The patient was discharged home on inhaled t-PA(5mg, 4 times daily), inhaled levalbuterol, oral azithromycin,inhaled budesonide, and vest treatments. At 6 months onthese therapies, he continued to expectorate casts, but hadsignificantly fewer episodes of airway obstruction.

    2. Methods

    TheStanfordUniversity Institutional Review Board approvedthis study. To identify patients with plastic bronchitis at our

    institution, we used a unique approach in which data werecaptured in our institutions electronic medical record (EMR)and a research data warehouse. The data storage platform,termed Stanford Translational Research Integrated DatabaseEnvironment (STRIDE), acquires and stores all patient datacontained in the EMRat our hospital and provides immediatesemantic and navigational search capabilities. We identified205,100 pediatric patients (birth to age 18 years) who wereadmitted to our hospital or seen in our clinics betweenJanuary 1, 2000 and January 1, 2012. Using the STRIDE toolknown as the Anonymous Patient Cohort Tool, we createda plastic bronchitis cohort through a semantic search of alldictated records. This same tool was also used to identify thefollowing patient cohorts based on ICD (International Clas-sification of Diseases) 9 codes: congenital heart disease (745,746, 747), asthma (493), and pneumonia and/or influenza(480488.9).

    3. Results

    Our electronic search revealed 13 patients with plastic bron-chitis and 1 patient who was followed during the study timeperiod but was diagnosed in 1999. All 14 cases of plasticbronchitis were diagnosed by the gross appearance of airwaycasts (either expectorated or removed by bronchoscopy).Seven cases were evaluated further by pathologic examina-tion, and the histological findings are described in Table 1. All14 patients had diagnostic imaging with findings suggestiveof bronchial casts, including chest radiographs showingatelectasis and lobar collapse. Comorbid conditions includedcongenital heart disease (8), pneumonia (3), asthma (2), acutelymphocytic leukemia (1), systemic lupus erythematosus (1),sand aspiration (1), and tracheal sling (1).

    Regarding the epidemiology of plastic bronchitis, the 14plastic bronchitis patients were seen over a 12 years among

  • Case Reports in Pulmonology 3

    (a) (b)

    (c) (d)

    (e) (f)

    Figure 2: Histology from representative casts. Hypocellular fibrinous casts from patient 1 (case vignette) at 10x magnification (a) and 100x(b). Inflammatory casts from patient 9 showing eosinophils, Charcot-Leyden crystals and mucin at 10x (c) and 200x (d) arrowheads indicateCharcot-Leyden crystals. Casts from patient 3, showing hypocellular ((e), 40x) and inflammatory ((f), 100x) sections in the same specimen.

    205,100 total patients seen at our institution during the studytime period. The overall institutional prevalence rate was 6.8per 100,000 patients.Theprevalence rates of plastic bronchitisamong the various patient cohorts were as follows: congenitalheart disease (113 per 100,000), pneumonia and/or influenza(58 per 100,000), and asthma (29 per 100,000).Therewas onlyone death (patient 14) among the 14 patients resulting in afatality rate of 7%.

    Histopathologic review was performed on 14 specimensfrom 7 patients in this series. Three patients had a historyof complex cyanotic congenital heart disease (patients 1, 2,and 3 in Table 1). The casts from patient numbers 1 and 3were hypocellular and composed primarily of eosinophilic,fibrinous material, with a scant amount of mucin at theedges (Figures 2(a) and 2(b)). Most cells in these castsweremononuclear cells (lymphocytes and entrapped alveolarmacrophages), although some granulocytes were present

    as well. Casts in the 2 asthma cases (patients 9 and 10,Figures 2(c) and 2(d)) were primarily cellular, composed ofsheets of eosinophils with associated Charcot-Leyden crys-tals, and surrounded by mucin. One patient (patient 3) hada history of both complex cyanotic congenital heart diseaseand asthma, and his casts had amixture of the 2 morphologicappearances described previously, with some hypocellularcasts made mostly of fibrinous material, and other moremucinous casts with florid infiltrates of eosinophils (Figures2(e) and 2(f)). Casts from 2 cases (patients 1 and 10)showed occasional bacterial microcolonies without associ-ated inflammation, suggesting colonization versus infection.

    Treatment modalities varied between patients (Table 1),but the majority of patients had bronchoscopic cast removal( = 11). During bronchoscopy, 2 cardiac patients had directinstillation of dornase alpha (recombinant DNase), and 1had direct instillation of t-PA (patient 1 described in case

  • 4 Case Reports in PulmonologyTa

    ble1:Clinicalpresentatio

    n,tre

    atment,andou

    tcom

    esof

    14patie

    ntsw

    ithplastic

    bron

    chitis.

    Patie

    ntidentifi

    catio

    nPresentatio

    nof

    PBTreatm

    ent

    Grossdescrip

    tionandhisto

    patholog

    yOutcome

    1

    3yo

    Mwith

    hypo

    plastic

    leftheart

    synd

    rome.Ca

    rdiacs

    urgerie

    sinclu

    dedNorwoo

    d,BT

    shun

    t,Glenn

    ,and

    Fontan.

    Worsening

    respira

    tory

    distressand

    expectorationof

    multip

    lecasts

    after

    Fontan.

    Multip

    lebron

    choscopic

    castremovals,

    budesonide,levalbu

    terol,

    directandinhaledt-P

    A,

    spiro

    nolacton

    e,inhaled

    hyperton

    icsalin

    e(3%

    ).Oralazithromycin

    and

    spiro

    nolacton

    e.

    Gross:irregular

    branching,spon

    gy,

    soft,

    tan,andred-brow

    ntissue.Largest

    specim

    en61.5

    0.7c

    m.

    Histolog

    y:hypo

    cellu

    larfi

    brinou

    scasts.

    Con

    tinuedsm

    all

    expectorated

    casts

    but

    with

    outfurther

    obstructive

    casts

    6mon

    thsa

    fterP

    Bdiagno

    sis.

    2

    3yo

    Mwith

    tricuspidatresia

    .Ca

    rdiacs

    urgerie

    sincludedGlenn

    andFo

    ntan.C

    oursec

    omplicated

    byprotein-losin

    genteropathyand

    chylotho

    rax.

    Presentedwith

    chronicc

    ough

    ;exp

    ectoratio

    nprod

    uctiv

    eofb

    ranching

    mucoidcasts

    .

    Bron

    choscopicc

    ast

    removal.Inh

    aled

    steroids,albu

    terol,

    acetylcyste

    ine,do

    rnase

    alph

    a,andalteplase.Oral

    azith

    romycin.

    Gross:2.21.4

    0.3c

    mwhitefib

    rous

    tissue.

    Histolog

    y:hypo

    cellu

    lar,fib

    rinou

    scast.

    Con

    tinuedlevalbuteroland

    acetylcyste

    inew

    ithsm

    all

    expectorated

    casts

    daily

    12yearsa

    fterP

    Bdiagno

    sis.

    3

    6yo

    Mwith

    d-transposition

    ofthe

    greatarteriesa

    ndasthma.Ca

    rdiac

    surgeryinclu

    dedarteria

    lswitch,

    closure

    ofASD

    ,VSD

    ,and

    PDA

    ligation.

    Respira

    tory

    distressandrig

    htlung

    collapse

    insetting

    ofinflu

    enza

    Binfection.

    Bron

    choscopy

    follo

    wed

    byforcepsrem

    oval

    ofcast.

    Bron

    choscopicc

    ast

    removal,inh

    aled

    budesonide,

    acetylcyste

    ine,do

    rnase

    alph

    a,levalbuterol,

    inhaledt-P

    A.O

    ral

    azith

    romycin.

    Gross:thick,w

    hite,extremely

    viscou

    smaterialadh

    erenttobron

    chus

    walland

    obstructingrig

    htmainstem

    bron

    chus.

    Histolog

    y:mixture

    ofhypo

    cellu

    lar

    fibrin

    ousc

    astsandinflammatorycasts

    with

    abun

    dant

    eosin

    ophils.

    Well-con

    trolledasthma

    with

    nofurtherc

    astsat3

    yearsa

    fterP

    Bdiagno

    sis.

    4

    1yoM

    with

    DiGeorges

    yndrom

    e,tetralog

    yof

    Fallo

    t,pu

    lmon

    ary

    atresia

    ,and

    MAPC

    Aswith

    chronic

    lung

    diseasew

    howas

    ventilator

    depend

    ent.Ca

    rdiacs

    urgerie

    sinclu

    dedun

    ifocalizationto

    RV-to

    -PAcond

    uitw

    ithVS

    Dclo

    sure.

    Repeated

    plug

    ging

    oftracheostomywith

    thickmucou

    s.

    Inhaleddo

    rnasea

    lpha,

    levalbuterol,albuterol,

    budesonide.O

    ral

    azith

    romycin.

    Con

    tinuedon

    inhaled

    dornasea

    lpha,bud

    eson

    ide,

    levalbuterol,and

    albu

    terol

    atdischarge,which

    was

    2mon

    thsa

    fterinitia

    ldiagno

    sisof

    PB.

    5

    2yo

    Mwith

    tricuspidatresia

    .Ca

    rdiacs

    urgerie

    sincludedGlenn

    andFo

    ntan.C

    oursec

    omplicated

    bychylotho

    rax.

    Presentedwith

    significantcou

    ghwhich

    improved

    after

    expectorationof

    castwith

    delicates

    trands.

    Budesonide,

    levalbuterol,

    spiro

    nolacton

    e.

    Fontan

    was

    fenestrated

    after

    PBdiagno

    sisandno

    furtherc

    astsat9mon

    ths

    after

    PBdiagno

    sis.

    6

    2yo

    Fwith

    heterotaxy

    with

    atrio

    ventric

    ular

    septaldefectand

    mitralregu

    rgitatio

    n.Ca

    rdiac

    surgeryinclu

    dedrepairof

    septal

    defectandsubsequent

    orthotop

    ichearttransplant.

    Acuteinabilityto

    ventilatewhileintubated

    with

    leftlung

    collapse1

    weekaft

    erheart

    transplant.

    Bron

    choscopicc

    ast

    removalby

    side-channel

    sucker.

    Gross:thick,rop

    e-lik

    eyellowmucoid

    secretions.

    Resolved

    after

    cast

    evacuatio

    nwith

    nofurther

    casts

    at17

    mon

    thsa

    fterP

    Bdiagno

    sis.

    7

    3yo

    Mwith

    hypo

    plastic

    leftheart

    synd

    rome.Ca

    rdiacs

    urgerie

    sinclu

    dedNorwoo

    dwith

    RV-to

    -PA

    cond

    uit,aorticarch

    reconstructio

    n,bidirectionalG

    lenn

    ,and

    extracardiac

    Fontan

    with

    subsequent

    Fontan

    takedo

    wn.

    Persistentatelectasisandrespira

    tory

    failu

    reaft

    erFo

    ntan

    takedo

    wnandreturn

    toGlenn

    physiology.

    Bron

    choscopicc

    ast

    removalanddirect

    instillationof

    dornase

    alph

    a.Inhaledalbu

    terol,

    levalbuterol,and

    budesonide.

    Disc

    harged

    from

    hospita

    lon

    albu

    terol,levalbuterol,

    andbu

    desonide

    at3

    mon

    thsa

    fterP

    Bdiagno

    sis.

  • Case Reports in Pulmonology 5

    Table1:Con

    tinued.

    Patie

    ntidentifi

    catio

    nPresentatio

    nof

    PBTreatm

    ent

    Grossdescrip

    tionandhisto

    patholog

    yOutcome

    8

    4yo

    Mwith

    tetralog

    yof

    Fallo

    t,pu

    lmon

    aryatresia

    ,and

    MAPC

    As.

    Cardiacs

    urgerie

    sincludedrig

    htun

    ifocalizationto

    RV-to

    -PAcond

    uit

    andleftun

    ifocalizationto

    central

    shun

    t.

    4days

    after

    unifo

    calizationrevisio

    nleftlung

    whiteou

    tnoted

    whilepatie

    ntwas

    being

    mechanically

    ventilated.

    Bron

    choscopicc

    ast

    removalusingforceps.

    Dire

    ctandinhaled

    dornasea

    lpha,inh

    aled

    t-PA.

    Gross:tenacious

    mucoidmaterial

    stradd

    lingthec

    arina.

    Nofurtherc

    astp

    rodu

    ction

    after

    hospita

    ldisc

    harge,

    which

    occurred

    1mon

    thaft

    erPB

    diagno

    sis.

    92yo

    Mwith

    mod

    erate,persistent

    asthmac

    omplicated

    bypn

    eumon

    ia.

    Presentedwith

    coug

    handwheezew

    ithpo

    ssibleforeignbo

    dyaspiratio

    n.

    Bron

    choscopicc

    ast

    removal.Inh

    aled

    levalbuterol,

    mon

    telukast,

    and

    budesonide.

    Gross:severalwhiteto

    tanbranching

    segm

    ents,

    largest3.90.20.2c

    m.

    Histology:mucinou

    scastswith

    abun

    dant

    eosin

    ophilsandscattered

    Charcot-L

    eydencrystals.

    Occasionalasth

    ma

    exacerbatio

    n,bu

    toverall

    wellcon

    trolledwith

    nofurthere

    pisodeso

    fcast

    form

    ation4yearsa

    fterP

    Bdiagno

    sis.

    1015

    yoM

    with

    exercise-in

    duced

    asthma.

    Presentedinitiallyto

    outside

    hospita

    lwith

    dyspneaa

    ndfoun

    dto

    have

    leftmainstem

    bron

    chus

    lesio

    nof

    uncle

    aretiology.D

    espite

    laserresectio

    n,ob

    structio

    nrecurred

    asdid

    respira

    tory

    distr

    ess.Re

    peatbron

    choscopy

    with

    diagno

    sis4mon

    thsa

    fterinitia

    lpresentatio

    n.

    Bron

    choscopicc

    ast

    removal.

    Gross:3

    20.3c

    mirr

    egular,slightly

    tubu

    lartan,erythem

    atou

    s,soft

    material.

    Histology:mucinou

    scastswith

    abun

    dant

    eosin

    ophilsand

    Charcot-L

    eydencrystals.

    Requ

    iredfurther

    bron

    choscopicc

    ast

    removal,m

    ostrecently

    documented3mon

    thsa

    fter

    PBdiagno

    sis.

    119yo

    Mwith

    histo

    ryof

    mild

    asthma

    complicated

    bymassiv

    esand

    aspiratio

    n.

    Respira

    tory

    arrestfollo

    wingmassiv

    esand

    aspiratio

    n.Bilateralpneum

    otho

    races,

    bilaterallun

    gcollapse,andtrachealtear

    requ

    iring

    ECMOsupp

    ort.

    Bron

    choscopicc

    ast

    removalalon

    gwith

    lung

    lavage.

    Gross:dark,brow

    n,irr

    egular,

    hemorrhagicpieces

    oftissue,largest

    3.21.5

    0.5c

    m.

    Histolog

    y:hypo

    cellu

    lar,fib

    rinou

    scasts

    with

    entrappedredbloo

    dcells.

    Con

    tinuedinterm

    ittent

    albu

    terolu

    se,but

    nofurtherc

    asts2yearsa

    fter

    initialPB

    diagno

    sis.

    12

    17moFwith

    trachealsling

    .Tracheop

    lasty

    was

    complicated

    byprolon

    gedintubatio

    nandtracheal

    steno

    sis.

    Afte

    rextub

    ation,

    rigid

    bron

    choscopy

    perfo

    rmed

    duetocontinuedstr

    idor

    which

    revealed

    early

    plastic

    bron

    chitisa

    ndtracheom

    alacia.

    Inhaledtobram

    ycin,

    acetylcyste

    ine,

    levalbuterol,and

    budesonide.

    Gross:thick,yellow,

    tenaciou

    ssecretions.

    Bron

    choscopy

    1weekaft

    erinitialPB

    diagno

    siswith

    out

    casts

    present.

    13

    19yo

    Fwith

    ALL

    treated

    with

    matched

    siblin

    gbo

    nemarrow

    transplant

    complicated

    bygraft

    versus

    hostdisease.Historyof

    ASD

    andVS

    Daft

    errepair.

    Acuter

    espiratory

    distr

    essd

    uringtransplant

    hospita

    lization.

    Largeo

    bstructin

    gmucou

    splug

    foun

    don

    bron

    choscopy.

    Bron

    choscopicc

    ast

    removalusingforceps.

    Gross:4

    21.7

    cmgranular,

    tan-red-greenfragment.

    Nofurtherc

    astp

    rodu

    ction

    with

    mostrecentfollowup

    2yearsa

    fterinitia

    lPB

    diagno

    sis.

    14

    19yo

    Fwith

    syste

    miclupu

    serythematosus

    complicated

    bypu

    lmon

    aryhemorrhage,ARD

    S,CM

    Vpn

    eumon

    itis,and

    aspergillosis.

    Initiallyintubatedforp

    ulmon

    ary

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  • 6 Case Reports in Pulmonology

    vignette). Commonly used inhalation treatments includedcorticosteroids ( = 8), dornase alfa ( = 4), and t-PA( = 4). The patient described was the only one in thiscase series to receive both inhaled and directly instilled t-PA. Oral azithromycin was administered to 4 patients forits immunomodulatory properties. Inhaled beta agonistswere administered to both cardiac and asthma patients,and oral spironolactone was started after the diagnosis ofplastic bronchitis in 2 of the 8 cardiac patients. Of note, thepatients with asthma required fewer medications to reducecast formation compared to the patients with cardiac disease.

    4. Discussion

    4.1. Epidemiology. Plastic bronchitis is an uncommon con-dition, but recent evidence suggests that it is underreportedas well [2]. Our report represents one of the largest caseseries and includes institutional prevalence rates of plasticbronchitis with selected cardiac and pulmonary diagnoses.The prevalence seen at our institution may be higher thanother pediatric centers, as our center is a referral centerfor tertiary and quaternary care. Of note, plastic bronchitisprevalence in Fontan patients has been estimated to be ashigh as 414% [2]. The patients in our cohort can be placedinto 2main categories: (1) those with congenital heart disease,and (2) those with primary pulmonary processes (Table 1).Historically, these are the 2 most common diagnostic groupsassociated with plastic bronchitis. Due to the small numberof cases reported, a gender or age predilection was notdemonstrated. This is consistent with a retrospective surveystudy of Fontan-associated plastic bronchitis which showedno reliable clinical or demographic predictors for plasticbronchitis [2].

    4.2. Presentation and Diagnosis. Plastic bronchitis was firstreported by Galen (AD 131200), who described the expecto-ration of arteries and veins.While the alarming presentationof large, branching, expectorated casts is pathognomonic,many patients present with less specific symptoms such asdyspnea, cough, and fever. Severe hypoxia due to airwayobstruction can occur either on presentation or in the courseof the disease. On physical exam, wheezing or decreasedbreath sounds are commonly observed in symptomaticpatients. The auscullatory flag snapping sign (also calledbruit de drapeau) is attributable to a partially obstructing castmoving in a bronchus [3]. Radiographic findings are oftennonspecific and include atelectasis or infiltrate(s). A recentreport demonstrated that contrast-enhanced chest CT can beused both to aid in diagnosis and determine the location ofcasts for bronchoscopic extraction [4]. Although noninvasiveimaging can assist in the diagnosis, a cast specimen for grossand microscopic examination is usually required to confirmthe diagnosis. If there is no history of cast expectoration ina patient at risk, a high index of suspicion is appropriate dueto the rapid decompensation and even fatal outcome due toacute airway obstruction. The use of bronchoscopy for bothdiagnosis and treatment is important. In situ casts vary in sizeand can extend throughout the entire tracheobronchial tree.

    Expectorated or extracted cast material is generally beige towhite in color and rubbery in consistency. The parents of thepatient in the case presented believed that the early casts heexpectorated at home were bits of string cheese that he hadpreviously ingested.

    4.3. Histology. Seear initially proposed a classification basedon the morphological composition of the mucus plugs [5].According to this classification, type I casts are composedof inflammatory cells (e.g., neutrophils and eosinophils) andfibrin; they are more commonly associated with primarypulmonary disease and bronchial inflammation. Type II castsare hypocellular and consist predominantly of mucin; theyare more commonly associated with congenital heart disease.In contrast to the type II casts defined by Seear, the typeII hypocellular casts in our series were primarily composedof amorphous eosinophilic, fibrinous material rather thanmucin. Also, the type I cellular casts we reviewed weremainly composed of mucin rather than fibrin.These findingsare based on examination of conventional hematoxylin andeosin-stained sections; all were reviewed simultaneously inthis retrospective review. Periodic Acid-Schiff with diastase(PASd) staining performed on casts from a patient with con-genital heart disease (patient 1) confirms this finding, stainingscant mucin only at the periphery of the hypocellular cast. APASd stain of the cast from the patient with congenital heartdisease and asthma (patient 3) showed increasedmucin in theareas with type I cellular inflammatory cast morphology.

    Althoughwe have reviewed a limited number of casts, ourcase series indicates that a subset of casesmay not fit preciselyinto the Seear classification system. In our case series, the typeI inflammatory casts, seen mainly in patients with asthma,are composed of sheets of eosinophils in a mucinous matrix.The type II hypocellular casts, seen in cases of congenitalheart disease, contain scattered acute inflammatory cellsand macrophages and are otherwise composed of fibrinousmaterial. This is consistent with a recent prospective study ofcasts from congenital heart disease patients by Heath et al.showing them to be primarily fibrin [6]. The association oftype I inflammatory casts withmucin and type II hypocellularcasts with fibrin is an important observation, as it relatesto pathophysiology, potential response to treatment, anddiagnosis.

    4.4. Pathophysiology. The mechanism of cast formationremains unclear both for the inflammatory casts in lungdisease and the hypocellular casts associated with congenitalheart disease. To more fully account for underlying diseaseand explore the pathogenesis of cast formation, Brogan exam-ined the role of comorbid conditions: allergic/asthmatic,cardiac, and idiopathic [7]. In a series described by Madsen,the classifications were combined to integrate informationfrom cast histology and patient history. Patients were dividedfirst based on co-morbidity and then on cast histology if nounderlying disease was identified [8]. This group reviewedall published cases of plastic bronchitis and noted that thepurely histologic distinction was likely an oversimplification.Our data supports the Madsen classification system, but

  • Case Reports in Pulmonology 7

    demonstrates that casts in congenital heart disease can bepredominantly hypocellular and fibrinous.

    Regarding the etiology of casts in patients with congenitalheart disease, there is evidence that abnormal lymphaticdrainage may have a role, as casts have been found both inprimary lymphatic system disease and postcardiac surgeryin association with protein-losing enteropathy and chronicrecurrent chylothoraces [9, 10]. We speculate that the patientdescribed in the case presented may have an underlyingstructural abnormality of the lymphatic vasculature in hislungs. This abnormality has been described at autopsy ofinfants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and a highlyrestrictive or intact atrial septum resulting in high fetalpulmonary venous pressure [11]. Of the two patients in thisseries with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (patients 1 and 7),both had intact atrial septa.

    Although the relative contribution of congenital lym-phatic defects versus acquired or operative lymphangiectasiato cast formation is unclear, this case series supports thehypothesis of abnormal lymphatic drainage in patients withcongenital heart disease contributing to the formation ofcasts. In particular, the casts from patients with congenitalheart disease in this series are composed mostly of fibrinousmaterial, which may be a result of plasma proteins containedin extravasated lymph. Said so, although these casts havethe staining characteristics of fibrin and internal structurereminiscent of fibrin thrombi seen in blood vessels, routinehistology is not specific for fibrin per se, as other proteina-ceous materials could have a similar appearance. Proteomicanalysis of casts would likely be informative in this regard.

    It has also been suggested that elevated pulmonary venouspressure resulting in increasedmucous production is respon-sible for cast formation [5]. However, Madsen notes thatmany of the cardiac conditions associated with plastic bron-chitis do not result in elevated pulmonary venous pressureand that cast formation is not seen in other diseases with pul-monary hypertension [8]. In the patient in the case presented,for example, all available evidence suggested that his Fontanpathway pressures were within the usual range. Madsenet al. propose a 2-step model for cast formation whereininflammation resulting in dysregulated mucus secretion issuperimposed on a susceptible genetic background. Ourpatient may represent a different pathophysiology, given thelack of associated inflammation, and the minor contributionof mucin to the bulk of the casts.

    In patients with asthma, the cause of casts is likely relatedto chronic inflammation and its attendant neutrophilic andeosinophilic airway infiltration. With decreased mucociliaryclearance, the airways become occluded with eosinophilsand neutrophils in a mucinous background [8]. The casesreported in this series support this hypothesis, given thepredominance of inflammatory cells andmucin in casts frompatients with asthma. Interestingly, the one case (patient5) with both congenital heart disease and asthma had anintermediate cast composition with areas of hypocellularfibrin and other areas with inflammatory infiltrate.

    4.5. Therapy. Both acute cast removal and long-term pre-vention of cast recurrence are the primary therapeutic

    objectives. Regarding mechanical cast disruption, flexible orrigid bronchoscopy is most often used for cast removal andcan be guided by contrast-enhancedCT imaging. A large caseseries of 22 pediatric patients concluded that bronchoscopicextraction is the only effective modality for treatment [12].A report of 2 patients for whom bronchoscopy was not anoption showed that high-frequency jet ventilation can be usedfor short-term clearance of casts [13]. Chest physiotherapy isfrequently employed as an adjunct for cast mobilization.

    A variety of inhaled mucolytics and fibrinolytics havebeen used for cast disruption. We report topical therapyduring bronchoscopy using the fibrinolytic agent t-PA as wasrecently reported by Gibb et al. [14]. However, the majorityof case reports involve inhaled t-PA for cast disruption [1518]. Inhaled t-PA is used predominantly in cardiac patients,which is consistent with our finding that these casts havemore significant fibrin content. The use of t-PA is supportedby the results of Gansey, who incubated extracted casts from aFontan patient with t-PA and observed complete dissolutionof the cast [19]. It is further supported by Heath et al.,who had similar observations with casts from 4 childrenwith congenital heart disease [6]. Other fibrinolytics thathave been aerosolized for use in plastic bronchitis includeheparin and urokinase [19, 20]. Inhaled mucolytics includingacetylcysteine and dornase alpha are commonly used inpatients with plastic bronchitis [15, 21]. Dornase alpha hasbeen applied topically during bronchoscopy and resulted ineffective cast removal [22]. Our data suggest that mucolyticswould be potentiallymost useful in type I inflammatory casts,which have a higher mucin content.

    Acknowledgments

    The authors would like to express their gratitude to thepatients discussed herein as well as the many members ofthe health care team who have cared for these patientsand contributed to the experience described in this papersupported by theNational Center for Research Resources andthe National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences,National Institutes of Health (UL1 RR025744).

    References

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    [2] R. L. Caruthers, M. Kempa, A. Loo et al., Demographiccharacteristics and estimated prevalence of fontan-associatedplastic bronchitis, Pediatric Cardiology, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 256261, 2012.

    [3] M. H. Eberlein, M. B. Drummond, and E. F. Haponik, Plasticbronchitis: a management challenge, American Journal of theMedical Sciences, vol. 335, no. 2, pp. 163169, 2008.

    [4] H. W. Goo, W. K. Jhang, Y. H. Kim et al., CT findings ofplastic bronchitis in children after a Fontan operation, PediatricRadiology, vol. 38, no. 9, pp. 989993, 2008.

    [5] M. Seear, H. Hui, F. Magee, D. Bohn, and E. Cutz, Bronchialcasts in children: a proposed classification based on nine cases

  • 8 Case Reports in Pulmonology

    and a review of the literature, American Journal of Respiratoryand Critical Care Medicine, vol. 155, no. 1, pp. 364370, 1997.

    [6] L. Heath, S. Ling, J. Racz et al., Prospective, longitudinal studyof plastic bronchitis cast pathology and responsiveness to tissueplasminogen activator, Pediatric Cardiology, vol. 32, no. 8, pp.11821189, 2012.

    [7] T. V. Brogan, L. S. Finn, D. J. Pyskaty Jr et al., Plastic bronchitisin children: a case series and review of the medical literature,Pediatric Pulmonology, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 482487, 2002.

    [8] P. Madsen, S. A. Shah, and B. K. Rubin, Plastic bronchitis:new insights and a classification scheme, Paediatric RespiratoryReviews, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 292300, 2005.

    [9] J. Languepin, P. Scheinmann, B.Mahut et al., Bronchial casts inchildren with cardiopathies: the role of pulmonary lymphaticabnormalities, Pediatric Pulmonology, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 329336, 1999.

    [10] M. I. Hug, J. Ersch, M. Moenkhoff, R. Burger, S. Fanconi, andU. Bauersfeld, Chylous bronchial casts after Fontan operation,Circulation, vol. 103, no. 7, pp. 10311033, 2001.

    [11] J. N. Graziano, K. P. Heidelberger, G. J. Ensing, C. A. Gomez,and A. Ludomirsky, The influence of a restrictive atrial septaldefect on pulmonary vascular morphology in patients withhypoplastic left heart syndrome, Pediatric Cardiology, vol. 23,no. 2, pp. 146151, 2002.

    [12] L. Dabo, Z. Qiyi, Z. Jianwen, H. Zhenyun, and Z. Lifeng,Perioperative management of plastic bronchitis in children,International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, vol. 74,no. 1, pp. 1521, 2010.

    [13] M. Zahorec, L. Kovacikova, P. Martanovic, P. Skrak, andP. Kunovsky, The use of high-frequency jet ventilation forremoval of obstructing casts in patients with plastic bronchitis,Pediatric Critical CareMedicine, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. e34e36, 2009.

    [14] E. Gibb, R. Blount, N. Lewis et al., Management of plastic bron-chitiswith topical tissue-type plasminogen activator,Pediatrics,vol. 130, no. 2, pp. e446e450, 2012.

    [15] J. M. Costello, D. Steinhorn, S. McColley, M. E. Gerber, and S.P. Kumar, Treatment of plastic bronchitis in a Fontan patientwith tissue plasminogen activator: a case report and review ofthe literature, Pediatrics, vol. 109, no. 4, p. e67, 2002.

    [16] T. B. Do, J. M. Chu, F. Berdjis, and N. G. Anas, Fontan patientwith plastic bronchitis treated successfully using aerosolizedtissue plasminogen activator: a case report and review of theliterature, Pediatric Cardiology, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 352355, 2009.

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