[Lipoid pneumonia in patients after laryngectomy].

Three patients with exogenous lipoid pneumonia are presented. All of them had laryngectomy because of the cancer of larynx. In a period of time ranging from a few months up to a few years after the operation they started to have dyspnoea, cough, sometimes hemoptysis and slightly elevated temperature. The chest X-ray revealed massive opacities in the lower zones of both lungs suggesting lung cancer or metastases of the laryngeal cancer. HRCT showed ground glass lesions. Histological examination of the lungs detected accumulation of multiple macrophages with vacuolated foamy cytoplasms in the alveoli. Neoplastic disease was excluded. Additional data from the patients history revealed that all of them were inhaling or administering mineral oil-containing products through the tracheostomy. Exogenous lipoid pneumonia was diagnosed. Patients were asked to stop inhalations with the mineral oil.