title: Misdiagnosis of a small cell lung cancer resulting from inaccurate pathology.
abstract: Currently, a biopsy provides the most reliable evidence for diagnosing a disease, and the majority of doctors do not question the diagnosis made by a pathologist. However, an inaccurate diagnosis may lead to serious consequences; for example, a benign tumor may be misdiagnosed as a malignancy, or a malignancy may be deemed to be benign. How to avoid these types of mistakes is a continuing issue of concern to all doctors. Here, we report a case of small cell lung cancer misdiagnosed as an inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor. Fortunately, we performed a mediastinoscopy on the patient and discovered the actual pathologic condition. This case is presented to caution against the possibility of the misdiagnosis of uncommon diseases in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Tie-niu
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China. Electronic address: songtn03@163.com.
authors.forename: Jian-hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jian-bao
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-ping
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Duo-jie
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Quan-wei
authors.initials: QW
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D055752:Small Cell Lung Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology*