Abstract
Introduction
Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis is a rare condition that requires treatment by whole-lung lavage. We report a case of severe pulmonary alveolar proteinosis and discuss a safe and effective strategy for the anaesthetic management of patients undergoing this complex procedure.

Case presentation
A 34-year-old Caucasian man was diagnosed with severe pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. He developed severe respiratory failure and subsequently underwent serial whole-lung lavage. Our anaesthetic technique included the use of pre-oxygenation, complete lung separation with a left-sided double-lumen endotracheal tube, one-lung ventilation with positive end-expiratory pressure, appropriate ventilatory monitoring, cautious use of positional manoeuvres and single-lumen endotracheal tube exchange for short-term postoperative ventilation.

Conclusion

Patients with pulmonary alveolar proteinosis may present with severe respiratory failure and require urgent whole-lung lavage. We have described a safe and effective strategy for anaesthesia for whole-lung lavage. We recommend our anaesthetic technique for patients undergoing this complex and uncommon procedure.


Introduction
Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare disorder characterised by the intra-alveolar accumulation of lipoproteinaceous material that is now thought to be surfactant [1]. The mainstay of treatment is whole-lung lavage (WLL), and we would like to present a case of this disease to illustrate a safe anaesthetic technique to facilitate this procedure.