A 72-Year-Old Woman With Dyspnea, Multiple Pulmonary Nodules, and Mediastinal Lymphadenopathy

A 72-year-old woman presented to our institution with gradually worsening shortness of breath and bilateral lower extremity edema of 3 weeks' duration. She had associated complaints of cough and intermittent hemoptysis. Her medical history was significant for hypertension and hypothyroidism. She was a former cigarette smoker with a 35 pack-year smoking history. She had no recent travel history and had a pet dog at home. Six months before the current hospitalization, evaluation for cough had revealed mediastinal lymphadenopathy at an outside institution. She underwent evaluation with an endobrachial ultrasound procedure at an outside facility 8 weeks before the current admission. The procedure demonstrated both acute and chronic inflammation, with one specimen showing few atypical cells on cytopathology and no growth on bacterial, fungal, and mycobacterial cultures. She was treated empirically with oral steroids for presumed sarcoidosis. However, this did not result in clinical benefit, and because of progressive symptoms, she presented to our institution.