The 86-year-old Florida woman lived with OIL in her lungs for 60 YEARS

March 28, 2017  10:48

An 86-year-old Florida woman was found with oil in her lungs from a procedure done six decades ago to treat tuberculosis.

The elderly woman, who has not been named, went to the doctor complaining of a burning pain in her chest and upper stomach. 

Diagnosed with acid reflux, she was given treatment and her symptoms improved.

But while at the hospital, she received a chest x-ray that showed something unusual: an opaque, cloudy area in the upper part of her left lung.

Doctors first thought the cloudy mass could be fluid buildup in the space between her chest wall and lung, known as the pleural cavity.

But the woman told doctors she had oil injected into her lungs 60 years ago, when she was in her 20s (although it unknown how old she was exactly), as treatment for tuberculosis (TB).

That's when it was realized she had undergone a procedure known as oleothorax.

It was abandoned in the 1950s after effective antibiotics for TB were discovered, Dr Abhilash Koratala, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Florida, who treated the woman and co-authored the report of her case, told Live Science.

Doctors believed that injecting oil, such as vegetable or mineral oil, would collapse the lung affected by TB bacteria, Dr Koratala said.

Used from the 1930s to the 1950s, doctors thought that this 'collapse therapy' would give part of the lung a chance to rest, and help kill TB bacteria.

When oil is injected into the pleural cavity, it's initially absorbed by the blood vessels and lymphatic vessels in the area.

For this treatment, doctors would often 'refill' the infected part of the lung with oil until it collapsed.

Eventually, membranes in the cavity would stop absorbing oil, probably due to tissue damage caused by allowing the oil to remain in the pleural cavity, Dr Koratala said.

While most patients eventually had the oil suctioned out of their lungs, many never went back to have the oil removed because they no longer experienced TB symptoms, the case report said.

More than 60 years has passed since this treatment was available, so it's rare today to see patients with oil in their lungs, according to Dr Koratala.

Although the woman didn't give a specific reason for not getting the oil removed, but Dr Koratala said: 'It's not uncommon for patients to not go back to the doctor if they are feeling good.' 

The finding of oleothorax was accidental as it wasn't causing her symptoms, and it wasn't related to her acid reflux, the doctors said. 

Although the upper part of the woman's lung remains collapsed by the oil, the rest of the lung is fine and can still function, Dr Koratala said.

No procedure has been made to drain the oil as the risks outweigh the benefits due to her age.

Dr Koratala said that despite the rarity of the condition, it's important for doctors to be aware and recognize the conditions.

In some cases, doctors who have seen patients who underwent oleothorax have suspected that the patients had lung cancer, and preformed unnecessarily biopsies of the lung, he said.  

'We have to be aware of the complications of oleothorax so that we treat them in an appropriate and timely manner,' Dr Koratala said. 

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