Pneumothoraces and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in two AIDS patients receiving aerosolized pentamidine.

Two cases of focal recurrent Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) associated with pneumothorax occurred in patients with AIDS who had received aerosolized pentamidine therapy. A resected lung specimen from one patient suggested that subpleural cavitary lung destruction by P carinii was pathogenically responsible for the pneumothorax. This report represents the first case known to the author documenting the etiology of PCP-associated pneumothorax by pathologic examination.