Severe acute lung injury caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae: potential role for steroid pulses in treatment.

Published evidence of pathogenetic mechanisms of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in mycoplasmal lung infections suggests that the pulmonary injury is related to a cell-mediated immune response. Therefore, steroids may play a role in the treatment of severe cases. We describe a patient who had Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia that progressed to severe ARDS requiring mechanical ventilation and who had improvement with prednisolone pulses.