Tuberculosis mimicking lung cancer

Tuberculosis (TB) is well known as a diagnostic chameleon and can resemble malignancy. In thorax TB can be manifested as pulmonary infiltrates and/or mediastinal lymphadenopathy. In low incident countries with high incidence of lung cancer and varying clinical presentations, TB often gets misdiagnosed with the result of delayed treatment start and unnecessary diagnostic procedures. Our case report presents two patients, who were referred to the Thorax diagnostic centre at the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Odense University Hospital, with presumptive diagnosis of neoplasm and had proved lung TB with no evidence of malignancy instead. In the first case diagnosis was confirmed after thoracotomy, in the second case after bronchoscopy.