Better approach for autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis treatment: inhaled or subcutaneous granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor: a meta-analyses.

As two routes of exogenous GM-CSF treatment, inhaled and subcutaneous were both proven to have effect on aPAP patients. Furthermore, inhaled GM-CSF therapy showed a higher response rate, more improvements on PaO2 and P(A-a)O2 than subcutaneous GM-CSF treatment in aPAP patients, suggesting inhaled GM-CSF therapy could have more benefits on aPAP patients. Therefore, GM-CSF therapy, especially inhaled GM-CSF, might be a promising therapeutic option in treating aPAP.