Unusual Periaortic Mediastinal Recurrence of Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma: When Making Diagnosis Is Really Necessary

Abstract

We report an unusual mediastinal recurrence along descending thoracic aorta during oncologic follow-up in a 47-year-old female smoker issued by lung adenocarcinoma with a history of left lower lobectomy and lingulectomy en bloc followed by adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III A-N2. Regional recurrence occurring along the staple line was suspected and endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) combined to PET/CT allowed to reach definitive tissue diagnosis. High focal hypermetabolic activity on PET/CT at the site of suspect recurrence was necessary to check the lesion sampling by EBUS-TBNA.

Keywords

• bronchial stump recurrence
• fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography
• endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration
• lung adenocarcinoma