A 44-Year-Old Woman With a 10-Year History of Dyspnea and Pulmonary Nodules

A 44-year-old woman was referred for evaluation of dyspnea on exertion and multiple nodular opacities on a chest CT scan. She had a medical history of autoimmune encephalitis, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, migraines, and allergic rhinitis. Ten years earlier, the patient was admitted to an outside institution with symptoms of shortness of breath. She was found to have multiple pulmonary nodules and was diagnosed empirically with and treated for sarcoidosis. She was told that her pulmonary nodules had improved on follow up. However, she continued to have symptoms of dyspnea. Due to progressive symptoms of shortness of breath, she was referred to pulmonology. She reported a weight gain of 80 pounds over the last year. She denied fever, chills, hemoptysis, night sweats, joint swelling, or skin rash. She is a former cigarette smoker with a 15 pack-year smoking history, quit smoking in 2005. She denied alcohol or drug use. She resided in Arkansas and Texas over the past decade. She previously worked as a teacher and is currently unemployed. She had no other relevant exposures. She denied a family history of autoimmune diseases or malignancies.