Tumor-like pulmonary sarcoidosis diagnosed by CT-guided transthoracic lung biopsy.
BACKGROUND
Most patients referred for lung biopsy have a focal lesion that is likely to be a carcinoma and fine needle aspiration (FNA) is usually sufficient to confirm diagnosis. Percutaneous cutting needle biopsy (CNB) is an important and potential diagnostic technique when non carcinomatous disease is suspected or when the pulmonary disease is unclear, so tissue architecture is very important.


METHODS
We present a case of a 24 year old male arrived at our hospital with dyspnea and unusual computed tomography (CT) findings of sarcoidosis. Chest X-ray and CT scan revealed multiple masses in both lungs suggesting lung metastasis. Bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage did not reveal any malignant cells. None of the laboratory examinations revealed any primary extrapulmonary tumor. The patient underwent CT-guided core needle biopsy. Histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of sarcoidosis.


CONCLUSIONS
CT-guided core needle biopsy is a very helpful diagnostic tool in order to determine the benign or malignant nature of a thoracic lesion.
Sidiropoulou
N
N
"Sotiria", Athens General Hospital of Chest Diseases, Department of Medical Imaging and Interventional Radiology Athens Greece. nektarsidiro@hotmail.com
Filippousis
P
P
Apostolopoulou
S
S
Tsangaridou
I
I
Thanos
L
L