[Foreign body-induced thoracic actinomycosis as differential mediastinal space-occupying lesion diagnosis]

Thoracic actinomycosis is a rare disease often mistaken for malignancy. Untreated actinomycosis is associated with high mortality, the disease should, thus, be considered early. We report the case of a 58-year-old male patient who was referred to us for a suspected thoracic sarcoma. He had 6-month a history of hemoptysis, and there was severe deterioration in his general health. Only in a roundabout way was the diagnosis of thoracic actinomycosis established; it was caused by an aspirated chicken bone, as found by bronchoscopy. All symptoms rapidly regressed by antibiotic therapy and definitive healing was obtained. In the diagnostic work up of thoracic masses that may represent inflammatory diseases, lymphoma, thymus-associated, sarcomatous and germ-cell tumors, bronchoscopy is of primary diagnostic importance.