A case of chronic pulmonary coccidioidomycosis diagnosed by video-assisted thoracic surgery

Abstract

Although the incidence of coccidioidomycosis in Japan is still rare, it is one of the most severe mycoses because of its infectious and pathogenic nature. We report a case of pulmonary coccidioidomycosis diagnosed by video-assisted thoracic surgery. The patient was a 52-year-old male with an abnormal shadow on a chest X-ray during a medical check-up. He had stayed in Arizona in the United States for one year. Chest CT demonstrated a mass lesion measuring 2.5×1.9 cm in the left thoracic cavity. Thoracoscopic partial resection of the lung was performed, and histopathological examination revealed typical spherules in the resected specimen.