Facilitation of Percutaneous Dilational

colitis, wasting, and concurrent pneumococcal pneu¬ monia. He declined ICU admission and active treatment was withdrawn prior to death. One patient had a history of CMV infection and did well on pentamidine and prednisone without CMV coverage. Another patient received active treatment for CMV retinitis with ganciclovir and did well on PCP treatment, without corticosteroid therapy. He did not require ICU admission. Two patients died from causes unrelated to PCP, one from a seizure caused by invasive aspergillosis of the ethmoid sinus, and one from venous thromboembolism. The latter patient was on ganciclovir and then foscarnet for CMV esophagitis, and received adjunctive corticosteroid therapy for his PCP. Our data suggest that CMV pneumonitis, as diagnosed by the presence of inclusion bodies in bronchoscopic specimens, plays a minor part in the poor outcome of respiratory failure secondary to AIDS-related PCP.1,3"5 It is important, however, to keep this pos¬ sibility in mind when caring for such patients. If a patient was fail¬