A Lung Abscess on CT Scan: Think of Lung Cancer

Bailey Christie¹ and Chukwuemeka A. Umeh^2,

¹Boston University School of Public Health, Boston Massachusetts, USA

²Department of Internal Medicine, Hemet Valley Medical Center, Hemet, California, USA

Cite this paper

Bailey Christie and Chukwuemeka A. Umeh. A Lung Abscess on CT Scan: Think of Lung Cancer. American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2021; 9(1):1-3. doi: 10.12691/AJMCR-9-1-1

Abstract

Background: Lung cancer can be present with lung abscess in up to a third of lung abscess cases. However, lung cancer is often overlooked as an underlying condition while making a diagnosis of lung abscess. Case report: The authors present a case of a 69-year-old male that experienced a syncopal episode, accompanied by productive cough and shortness of breath. Lung abscess was diagnosed, and the patient was placed on antibiotics with no improvement in the cough after a week. Additional tests were performed, and latent squamous cell carcinoma was discovered. Conclusion: Since lung cancer can masquerade as lung abscess, physicians should have a high suspicion for lung cancer whenever there is a radiographic diagnosis of lung abscess, especially in patients with risk factors for lung cancer.

Keywords

lung abscess, lung cancer, case report

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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