Pulmonary infarction mimicking a lung mass: a case report

Abstract

Pulmonary infarction usually appears as a wedge-shaped opacity with its base placed laterally. Rarely, pulmonary infarctions may appear as a well-defined rounded opacity mimicking lung cancer and surgical lung biopsy may often be required for definitive diagnosis. We report a patient who was admitted with submassive pulmonary embolism who had an incidental finding of a well-defined opacity in computed tomography (CT) scan. The lesion was avid on positron emission tomography (PET) scan and the patient was a smoker. So, we investigated him further with a percutaneous and later a thoracoscopic lung biopsy. Tumour-like pulmonary infarction is often a challenge for the clinicians.

Keywords

• pulmonary embolism
• pulmonary infarction
• lung cancer
• case report