[A case of eosinophilic pneumonia caused by inhalation of nickel dusts].

A 16-year-old male, an industrial high school student working at an ironworks, without a dust mask, began to complain of dry cough and fever several hours after inhalation of stainless steel dusts including 0.1% nickel. A chest X-ray film revealed ground glass shadows, patchy shadows and Kerley B lines in the right lung fields. A high resolution chest CT scan showed fusing panlobular densities, thickening of bronchial walls and thickening of interlobular septa. Blood cells counts revealed leucocytosis with eosinophilia. Arterial blood gas analysis revealed hypoxemia. A bronchoalveolar lavage fluid specimen showed a marked increase in the total cell count and in eosinophils. A transbronchial biopsy specimen showed eosinophilic and lymphocytic infiltration in the alveolar septa. Steroid therapy with methylpredonisolne (250 mg x three days) resulted in clinical remission. As we suspected nickel-induced eosinophilic pneumonia, an inhalation provocation test with 0.5% nickel sulfate solution was carried out with the patient's informed consent. Six hours after inhalation he developed a dry cough and fever with leucocytosis and A-aDo2 widening. The positive results of the inhalation provocation test provided a definite diagnosis of nickel induced eosinophilic pneumonia. A review of the world literature revealed three case reports of nickel induced PIE syndrome, all of whom were clinically diagnosed without biopsy however. We believe that this is the first case diagnosed by transbronchial biopsy-proven tissue eosinophilia and a positive nickel inhalation provocation test.