S. Vukić
Osnovno zdravstvo Gorenjske, Zdravstveni dom Kranj, Kranj, Slovenija

M. Praprotnik
Služba za pljučne bolezni, Pediatrična klinika, Univerzitetni klinični center Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenija

Abstract

Children’s interstitial lung disease (chILD) is a term used to describe a heterogeneous group of diseases. Although they are rare, paediatricians should consider this possibility in a child with failure to thrive, hypoxaemia, tachypnoea and inspiratory rales. These diseases result from a variety of pathogenic processes, which include genetic factors, systemic disease processes, infections and exposure-related ILD. They are characterised by inflammatory and fibrotic changes that primarily affect the alveolar walls. We describe the case of an eight-month-old girl with a rare form of chILD – a neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia of infancy (NEHI). NEHI was diagnosed on the basis of clinical symptoms, characteristic findings on imaging studies and an increased number of bombesin-positive cells on lung biopsy.

Key words: interstitial lung disease, hypoxaemia, tachypnoea, neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia of infancy.