Tuberculosis Mimicking As Lung Cancer

Abstract

Confusing lung masses constitute a challenging clinical problem for differentiating between cancer and lung infections. Tuberculosis as a diagnostic mimicker can resemble malignancy. Cases of PTB that mimic lung cancer are encountered on occasion. TB often gets misdiagnosed because of its varied clinical presentations, which results in delay in treatment initiation and unnecessary diagnostic procedures. Here, we report a case of 65 year old male smoker who presented with hemoptysis and a right hilar mass on chest x-ray which was subsequently proven to be tuberculosis with the help of invasive diagnostics and responded to a six months course of anti-tubercular medications. The clinical symptoms and radiologic features of PTB are nonspecific and resemble lung cancer, therefore accurate diagnosis of these two diseases remain a diagnostic dilemma in the clinic [1-5].