[Eight cases of idiopathic XXXX followed up for more than 4 years].

@entity1 @entity5970
BACKGROUND: Few reports exist regarding the long-term clinical course of idiopathic @entity5970 . PURPOSE AND METHODS: We retrospectively studied the clinical courses of 8 @entity1 . The @entity1 were 4 @entity1 and 4 @entity1 aged 48.4 +/- 14.0 years (mean +/- SD) with idiopathic @entity5970 followed up for a minimum of more than 4 years. Mean follow-up was 13 years and 6 months (4-22 years and 9 months). RESULTS: There were 15 instances of whole-lung lavage and/or bronchoalveolar lavage in 7 @entity1 , and lavage was effective 40% of cases. Spontaneous improvement occurred 16 times and exacerbation occurred 7 times in 8 @entity1 . On chest X-ray films, the shadows disappeared in 5 of 8 (62.5%) @entity1 , and in 4 of 5 @entity1 , shadows disappeared 5 or more years after diagnosis of @entity5970 . Pulmonary shadows have not disappeared in the remaining 3 @entity1 at the time of writing but have shown improvement compared with first presentation. There were no deaths. CONCLUSION: As indicated in previous reports, the long-term outcome of idiopathic @entity5970 appears to be good.
