Respiratory failure due to lung involvement with adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma: case report and review of literature.

Acute adult T-cellleukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) is a hematologic malignancy that usually entails a poor prognosis; median survival is only six months. Significant immunosuppression is commonly seen in these patients. Lung involvement in ATLL is usually documented either radiographically or as an autopsy finding. Few proven cases of ante mortem extensive lung infiltration have been described in the scientific literature. We present a fatal case of acute respiratory failure as a result of histologically proven lung infiltration by malignant lymphocytes in a patientwith acuteATLL. Although the most common cause of death i n patients with ATLL is respiratory failure in the setting of an infectious process, it should be kept in mind that patients with ATLL with acute respiratory failure may have malignant lung infiltration as a potential cause.