Ground Glass Appearance During the Pandemic Period: Everolimus Induced Interstitial Pneumonia

Abstract

Ground glass appearance is a nonspecific finding that can see in diseases such as chronic interstitial disease, acute alveolar disease or infection; however, it is most commonly encountered in COVID-19 pulmonary involvement today. The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays a regulatory role in cell proliferation and growth. Everolimus is an allosteric mTOR inhibitor used in ER+ breast cancers and inhibits the mTOR functional complex. Here, we present a case of interstitial pneumonia due to everolimus, which can be confused with COVID-19 pneumonia due to its ground-glass appearance during the pandemic period.

Keywords

• Everolimus
• mTOR
• ground glass
• interstitial pneumonia
• Covid-19
• breast cancer

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