Bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia (BOOP)

By Mayo Clinic staff

• 
• With Mayo Clinic emeritus internist

  Edward C. Rosenow III, M.D.

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  Biography of

  Edward C. Rosenow III, M.D.

  Edward Rosenow, M.D.

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  Dr. Edward Rosenow III spent his entire professional career at Mayo Clinic, retiring after 31 years. He was born in Ohio and obtained his M.D. at Ohio State University. Prior to his retirement, he was the Arthur M. and Gladys D. Gray Professor of Medicine.

  He has achieved numerous awards and honors, including the Mayo Fellows Hall of Fame of Outstanding Teachers, president of the Mayo staff, president of the American College of Chest Physicians, Distinguished Mayo Clinician Award, an honor lectureship in his name given each year at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, the Mayo Foundation Distinguished Alumnus Award, and most recently the Edward C. Rosenow III, M.D., Professorship in The Art of Medicine by the Bruce Clinton family. He recently received the Mayo Plummer Society Award for Excellence in Medicine.

  "It has always been my feeling that the better informed the patient is about his or her body and its functions, the better the patient-physician partnership," he says. "The informed patient is in turn more compliant with the physician's recommendations and better able to make intelligent decisions about health care needs."

  He was chairman of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He is a Master Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Chest Physicians. He considers the Karis ("caring" in Greek) Award from Mayo Clinic as one of his most cherished awards, because he learned over the years that many times the gift of caring and compassion are more effective in healing than the powers of modern medicine. As a result of this award he wrote a book, "The Art of Living … The Art of Medicine," about how medicine should be practiced.

  Dr. Rosenow has contributed to more than 170 publications, including over 30 book chapters, two books, two co-authored books and four amici curiae for the U.S. Supreme Court on tobacco legislation.

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Question

Bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia (BOOP)

What can you tell me about bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia (BOOP)?

Answer

from Edward C. Rosenow III, M.D.

Bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia (BOOP) is a rare lung condition in which the small airways (bronchioles), the tiny air-exchange sacs (alveoli) and the walls of small bronchi become inflamed and plugged with connective tissue. BOOP can have many causes.

In some people, BOOP causes no signs or symptoms. Most people who have BOOP experience a persistent nonproductive cough and — depending on how much of the lung is affected — shortness of breath with exertion.

Some forms of BOOP have identifiable causes, such as:

• Infections. BOOP sometimes occurs after people have had certain infections, including chlamydia, influenza or malaria.
• Inflammatory disorders. The risk of BOOP appears to be heightened for people who have disorders such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or scleroderma.
• Cancer treatment. People who have received certain types of chemotherapy or radiation to their chests sometimes develop BOOP.
• Transplanted tissue. Bone marrow, lung, kidney and stem cell transplants sometimes trigger bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia.
• Drug exposure. Drugs that have been linked to BOOP include cocaine, gold salts, and some antibiotics and anti-seizure medications.

Some think that gastroesophageal reflux disease can be a provoking factor.

If your doctor is unable to identify a cause, the disorder is called cryptogenic organizing pneumonia.

Most people recover after weeks or months of treatment with a steroid such as prednisone, or treatment of the underlying infection if that's the cause. But in some people, BOOP can progress in spite of treatment.

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