Lung nocardiosis in retroperitoneal fibrosis diagnosed by CT-guided fine needle aspiration

Abstract

Computed tomography (CT)-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) is a safe and effective procedure in the evaluation of undetermined pulmonary lesions. Most of the times FNA is a technique that leads to diagnosis in case of malignancies and benign tumors. Transthoracic FNA has a yield comparable to bronchoscopy for the diagnosis of infections and especially of rare opportunistic infections in immunosuppressed individuals. In this article we describe a case of Nocardia asteroides lung abscess that was diagnosed with CT-guided FNA, in a patient treated with corticosteroids for retroperitoneal fibrosis.