Pulmonary vasculitis may obscure large cell lung carcinoma. A case report

Several vasculitic syndromes are recognized as paraneoplastic syndromes of an underlying malignant disease. Most frequently small vessel vasculitis of the skin has been reported. We describe the case of a 62-year-old man with a pulmonary mass due to pulmonary vasculitis. After resection of the pulmonary mass, the patient displayed bone metastasis. Retrospectively, tumor cells were found in the pulmonary mass that had been resected 9 months before. In this case report the rare association of vasculitis and lung carcinoma is reviewed. Our report indicates that pulmonary vasculitis may obscure the histologic findings of lung carcinoma and that in patients with localized pulmonary vasculitis special attention has to be paid to the possible presence of malignant cells.