Idiopathic pulmonary hemorrhage in pregnancy. Report of a case suggesting early pulmonary hemosiderosis with clinical recovery after steroid therapy.

THE following is a report of a young, seven-month-pregnant woman who was gravely ill with cough, breathlessness, cyanosis, bilateral pulmonary infiltration on x-ray study and a hemoglobin of only 4.8 gm. per 100 ml. Because of the characteristic clinical picture and the absence of any other cause of blood loss, the diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary hemorrhage or of so-called idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis was tentatively made, and appropriate treatment was instituted. Of particular interest is the fact that complete remission rapidly followed the use of steroids in this critically ill patient. A biopsy of the lung was obtained on the tenth . . .