Treatment-Resistant Bronchopneumonia as a Form of Presentation of Lung Cancer: A Case Report

Lung cancer is the most common neoplasm and one of the deadliest in the world. A clinical case of a 74-year-old patient with a history of being a former smoker is presented. He comes in with a dry cough, fever of 38.5°C and tiredness. The physical examination revealed the respiratory system: slightly decreased vesicular murmur towards the right parailiary region with the presence of crackles at that level. A Chest X-ray is performed, observing an image of inflammatory condensation towards the right iliary region; it is treated as bronchopneumonia worsening the clinical state. A thoracentesis is performed with extraction of pleural fluid for cytohistological study. The cytohistological study diagnosed adenocarcinoma-type non-small cell lung cancer. The patient died before starting cancer treatment. The bronchopneumonic form of lung cancer is not the most frequent, but it is one of the forms that most masks the picture.