A case of chronic paraffin pneumonitis.

Although the syndrome of an exogenous lipoid pneumonia due to aspirated liquid paraffin has been established for some four decades, it is evident from many of the published reports, mainly in the American literature, that the diag-nosis is still frequently being missed unless investigations are deliberately undertaken with this possibility in mind. Rewell (1947) published the -first probable case from this country, but since then there have been but few observations in the British Isles (Forbes and Bradley, 1958; Siddons, 1958; Cotton and Lloyd, 1960; Elston, 1966). Forbes and Bradley (1958) emphasized that the aspiration of oil was not considered in the aetiology of any of their four cases during life, and stated that diagnosis was difficult even at necropsy. It is for this reason that we wish to draw once more attention to the entity by recording a case of chronic lipoid pneumonia which-unknown to the patient's medical advisers was due to prolonged self-administration of large doses of liquid paraffin. Once again the nature of the illness remained undiagnosed until after death.