TWO CASES OF MYCOBACTERIUM KANSASII INFECTION WHICH NEEDED TO BE DISTINGUISHED FROM LUNG CANCER

Abstract

Case 1 was a 24-year-old man. His chest X-ray showed a 1.3cm solitary nodule in the right S1+2. Case 2 was a 64-year-old man. His chest X-ray showed a 1.5cm solitary nodule in the left S1+2. They were asymptomatic. In both cases, bronchofiberscopy could not establish a pathological diagnosis, and so a thoracoscopic resection was performed. It revealed that both solitary nodules were Mycobacterium kansasii infection. On chest X-ray and CT scan, the majority of cases showed a thin walled cavitary lesion, but in these two cases CT scan showed solitary nodules without cavity. Differential diagnosis was necessary to distinguish from lung cancer.