Cryptogenic Organizing Pneumonia:
Cryptogenic Organizing pneumonia (COP) is also known as Bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia. Using COP is preferred to avoid mixing up with brochiolitis obliterans.
Cryptogenic organizing pneumonia is essentially inflammation of the bronchioles and also the surrounding tissue of the lungs.
It is suspected that prior inflammatory conditions and certain drugs may cause COP. Although COP presents similar to pneumonia (such as the pneumonia caused by streptococcus pneumonia bacteria), a diagnosis of COP is often indicated when treatment with antibiotics fails and sputum cultures turn up negative for any organisms.
Why is it called Organizing?
This term organizing refers to the presence of exudates and fibrosis tissue in and around alveolar tissue. This is from the unresolved pneumonia. In normal (bacterial) pneumonia, the exudates would have resolved with anti-bacterial treatment.
What type of symptoms to patients with COP have?
Most common symptoms include those similar to a bacterial pneumonia. These include cough, shortness of breath, flu like symptoms, crackles on lung exam, and fevers. Weight loss is also common
What is the incidence of COP?
Most patients are between the ages of 40 and 60. COP effects about .01% of people. Males are just as likely as females to get this disease. It can be deadly – often killing 7% of people effected.
Treatment of COP:
Treatment involves giving the patient corticosteroids. This is dosed by the weight of the patient at about .75 mg/Kg (which typically leads to starting dose of about 50 mg per day).
Corticosteroids can have side-effects and the patient has to be slowly taken off the medication. Most patients will recover and other m