Thoracic actinomycosis with mainly pleural involvement

J Infect Chemother. 2004 Jun;10(3):172-7. doi: 10.1007/s10156-004-0310-x.

Abstract

A 61-year-old man, who had been diagnosed with pleuritis 5 months earlier, was admitted to our hospital to determine if a tumor shadow that appeared in his right lower lung field on March 2002 was a localized pleural mesothelioma. Although a CT-guided lung biopsy was performed, no definite diagnosis was made. However, because the tumor shadow continued to increase in size, we could not rule out the possibility of a malignant thoracic tumor, and performed video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). Histological examination of the surgically resected tissue led to a diagnosis of thoracic actinomycosis in the main component of the pleura. Because the recurrence of pulmonary actinomycosis was also suspected after surgical treatment, penicillin G was administered intravenously and afterward amoxicillin was administered intraorally. Subsequently, the patient's clinical status improved. We considered a case of thoracic actinomycosis that was suspected to have spread directly from the lung to the chest wall with complicating pleural effusion and remained with organization because there was a pulmonary infiltration shadow in the right upper lobe on chest CT at the first admission.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Actinomycosis / diagnosis*
  • Actinomycosis / diagnostic imaging
  • Actinomycosis / therapy
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Humans
  • Lung Diseases / diagnosis*
  • Lung Diseases / diagnostic imaging
  • Lung Diseases / therapy
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Thoracic Diseases / diagnosis*
  • Thoracic Diseases / diagnostic imaging
  • Thoracic Diseases / therapy
  • Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed