Pulmonary actinomycosis masquerading as a malignant lung tumor

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Pulmonary actinomycosis being a rare disease is an important and challenging diagnosis to make. The disease is commonly confused with conditions such as chronic suppurative lung diseases and malignancy thus requiring a high index of suspicion. Considerable psychological and physical morbidity, including unwarranted surgery can be prevented with an early and accurate diagnosis. We hereby present a case of 60-year-old male who presented to a tertiary care hospital with the chief complaint of hemoptysis and chest pain. On evaluating for the cause of hemoptysis, the clinical and radiologic findings were suggestive of lung cancer. The diagnosis of actinomycosis was determined by computed tomography guided transthoracic lung biopsy. Respiratory physicians should be aware of this important differential when investigating patients for persistent pulmonary shadowing.