2013 Volume 27 Issue 5 Pages 632-636
Background. The diagnosis of a cavitating pulmonary disease is occasionally difficult. Case. A 59-year-old male was noted to have an abnormal shadow on a chest radiograph. Chest CT showed a cavity lesion, as well as an infiltrative shadow that had first been noticed two years earlier. Transbronchial lung biopsy could not reveal any malignant cells; therefore, the cavity was suspected to be a lung abscess. However diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) suggested the possibility of malignancy. Histological examination of frozen sections obtained during the operation revealed adenocarcinoma. The patient underwent left lower lobectomy with hilar and mediastinal lymphadenectomy. The final pathological diagnosis was adenocarcinoma with mixed subtypes, predominantly acinar and mucinous bronchioloalveolar carcinoma. The pathological stage was T2aN2M0 stage IIIA. Conclusion. DWI may be useful for the diagnosis of a malignant lung tumor.
