title: Primary pulmonary T-cell lymphoma mimicking pneumonia: A case report and literature review.
abstract: Primary pulmonary T-cell lymphoma is an extremely rare neoplasm. The present study describes the case of an elderly male patient who was admitted to hospital with initial symptoms including a fever, coughing and dyspnea. A chest computed tomography scan detected pneumonia-like features, including multiple variable nodules, ground-glass opacities, patchy infiltration and subpleural consolidation, which progressed rapidly. No mediastinal or hilar adenopathy was noted. The patient was initially diagnosed with severe pneumonia; however, the patient developed severe respiratory failure and extensive progression in radiographic manifestation despite receiving a combination treatment of broad-spectrum antibiotics and antifungal agents. Negative results were obtained for anti-nuclear antibodies and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody assays, which eliminated the possibility that the patient was affected by a connective tissue disease. A bronchoscopy with transbronchial lung biopsy was not performed on account of intolerance. A histological examination, which was performed using specimens obtained via video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, allowed the final diagnosis of T-cell lymphoma to be confirmed. Unfortunately, the patient succumbed to respiratory failure and a probable thoracic hemorrhage prior to the initiation of chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215006, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lingyi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215006, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215006, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215006, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiuqin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215006, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yehan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215006, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215006, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jian-An
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Huang
keywords: primary pulmonary T-cell lymphoma; radiologic presentation; video-assisted thoracoscopy