Interstitial Pneumonia from Mitomycin

Abstract

Pulmonary disease has been associated with several chemotherapeutic agents but has not been reported in patients receiving the alkylating agent mitomycin (Mutamycin). The cases of 3 patients who developed interstitial pneumonia while receiving mitomycin therapy are described. Their clinical features included dyspnea, cough and occasionally fever; reticular infiltrates were seen on chest roentgenogram. Histologically, diffuse alveolar septal edema, mononuclear-cell interstitial infiltrates, hypertrophy of alveolar lining cells and alveolar septal collagen deposition were characteristic. Treatment with corticosteroids was associated with a rapid therapeutic response in all 3 patients.