What should I do if I have alveolar protein deposition? If the patient’s respiratory function is basically normal, you can continue to observe changes in the disease and review it regularly; if the patient’s respiratory function declines, you should treat it promptly. This disease is due to the accumulation of things that should not accumulate in the alveoli but do, so one of the treatments is to wash out these substances, which is called alveolar lavage treatment. Unlike diagnostic lavage, therapeutic alveolar lavage is a very large amount of fluid, usually whole lung lavage, which requires general anesthesia in the operating room to wash out the dirt from the lungs. After a single alveolar lavage most patients are able to maintain normal respiratory function for a considerable period of time, but some patients will still relapse and require repeat lavages. How often do I need to re-irrigate? Patients need to be rechecked every three to six months to assess respiratory function, including blood gas analysis, the patient’s ability to walk for six minutes and CT imaging. If there is a significant decline in respiratory function, reperfusion is required. What is the cost of each alveolar lavage? Is hospitalization required? The cost of alveolar lavage is not very high, but the whole procedure is complicated and the patient needs to be hospitalized. Depending on the condition, the scope of lavage varies from patient to patient. Some patients can have both lungs lavaged at the same time, while others need to have both left and right lungs lavaged separately, usually at an interval of 5-7 days; in addition, some hospitals cannot do whole lung lavage and have to lavage in sections under bronchoscopy. Therefore, the cost of treatment is related to the scope of lavage, the method and the length of hospital stay. A single simultaneous lavage of both lungs is the shortest hospital stay and the most cost effective method, while other methods are longer and more expensive. Is there a drug-only treatment? Many patients believe that lavage treatment is a long and costly hospital stay, and that there are certain risks, and they want to be treated with medication. There are some advances in treatment with medication, and one important one is the inhalation of an exogenous substance that promotes the circulatory absorption of the buildup, which in turn corrects the dysregulated internal environment in the alveoli, according to the pathogenesis of the disease. It has been found that about 50% of patients get better results with this inhaled treatment, and the method does not require hospitalization and can be treated on an outpatient basis, and patients can also use it at home, which is simple and effective. In addition, some patients with severe respiratory impairment can be treated with alveolar lavage followed by this inhaled drug therapy, which is also effective in improving respiratory function and reducing recurrence. What’s more, alveolar lavage treatment requires close collaboration between the operating room, anesthesiology, respiratory department and other multidisciplinary departments, and the whole treatment process is rather complicated. Nowadays, many local hospitals do not carry out alveolar lavage treatment, but through this inhaled drug, many patients can be effectively treated in local hospitals. Which hospitals can currently do this inhaled drug treatment? Inhalation therapy is not currently a standard treatment method. In general, the diagnosis of alveolar protein deposition is complex. First, the diagnosis requires a pathological tissue biopsy, which requires the collaboration of respiratory and pathology departments. Second, some clinicians find characteristic changes in the imaging of the patient’s lung tissue and suspect that it may be alveolar protein deposition, but due to the lack of simple and effective diagnostic methods, many patients cannot get a clear diagnosis in time; in addition, in terms of treatment, alveolar lavage requires good technical team support. Therefore, how to simplify the whole diagnosis and treatment process has been a great concern. From the current study, carrying out blood biochemical examination in diagnosis and inhalation drug therapy in treatment can simplify the diagnosis and treatment process, and also ensure the accuracy of diagnosis and the effectiveness of treatment.