A crazy cause of dyspnoea : pulmonary alveolar proteinosis

Abstract

In March, 2013, a 37-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with a 6 month history of worsening dyspnoea, fatigue, insomnia, and generalised body pains. She had no cough or haemoptysis, was a non-smoker, and had no background medical or surgical history or occupational risk factors for pulmonary disease. Before her admission she had been treated by different general practitioners with multiple courses of empirical antibiotics and bronchodilators without resolution of her symptoms.