What is Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis?
Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis (PAP) is a rare lung disorder. It is a lung disease in which a phospholipid (a surfactant compound that is widely distributed in living cells) abnormally accumulates within air sacks inside the lungs. When the tiny air sacs of the lungs (alveoli) fill up with a secreted material known as surfactant, it reduces the amount of oxygen that can be diffused from the alveoli into the blood. Secreted surfactant is helps keep the alveoli (air sacs) to remain open, however, when surfactant accumulated abnormally, it results in Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis lung disorder. This rare lung disorder generally occurs in persons of 30 to 50 years of age, and it occurs in men more often than in women.
