A case of lung cancer complicated by axillary Castleman's disease

Abstract

A 67-year-old man presented to our hospital with suspected right lung cancer. Chest CT showed a 26-mm nodule with contrast enhancement at the right axilla, in addition to a 15-mm nodule in the right middle lobe of the lung. While we could diagnose the lung nodule as primary lung cancer by transbronchial lung biopsy, the axillary nodule remained undiagnosed following core needle biopsy. After an axillary specimen was diagnosed as a non-malignant neoplasm by open biopsy, the patient underwent right middle lobectomy with lymph node dissection. Pathological examination revealed the lung nodule as adenocarcinoma (pT1aN0M0) and the axillary nodule as Castleman's disease. In cases of the coexistence of lung cancer and Castleman's disease, the accurate estimation of respective lesions is essential to devise a treatment strategy for lung cancer.