A case of idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis in a 30-year-old man

Abstract

Idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis is a rare interstitial lung disease that occurs mostly in childhood. Usually, it presents with diffuse alveolar hemorrhage with no identified etiology. This report describes a young male patient who presented a clinical pattern of fatigue, dyspnea, and hemoptysis with iron-deficiency anemia. The iron-deficiency anemia in this patient was resistant to oral elemental iron therapy. This patient had typical findings on chest computed tomography (diffuse ground-glass opacities of the lungs) and bronchoalveolar lavage (detected siderophages). The patient obtained corticosteroid therapy after confirmation of idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis diagnosis, which led to improvement of symptoms in one week. This case report shows that early diagnosis and quick initiation of corticosteroid therapy is an effective approach, which reveals the symptoms and prevents complications.