A Pulmonary Infarction Mimicking Metastatic Lung Tumor

Koji Teramoto, You Kawaguchi, Tetsuo Hori, Yasuhiko Ohshio, Masayuki Hashimoto, Shoji Kitamura, Jun Hanaoka, Noriaki Tezuka

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DOI: 10.4236/ss.2011.26078                

Abstract

Pulmonary infarction may present as a solitary pulmonary nodule resembling a malignant pulmonary tumor. A 71-year-old woman who had undergone the surgery for abdominal malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) with inflammatory nature presented with a small nodule in the right lung in computed tomographic images. Two months later, the nodule became enlarged and had an accompanying infiltrative shadow. We suspected a metastatic tumor from MFH and performed video-assisted thoracic surgery. However, subsequent pathological diagnosis of the nodule was pulmonary infarction due to thromboembolism. When a peripheral nodule is detected, pulmonary infarction should be considered as a possible diagnosis.

Keywords

Pulmonary Infarction, Lung Cancer, VATS

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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