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Case report
Primary pulmonary cystic Echinococcus in an immunocompetent patient
  1. Nicholas Villalobos1,
  2. Maria Gabriela Cabanilla2 and
  3. William Paul Diehl1
  1. 1Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
  2. 2Infectious Diseases, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Nicholas Villalobos; villalobos.nk{at}gmail.com

Abstract

A 60-year-old man was referred to the interventional pulmonology clinic with a large right-sided intraparenchymal lung mass and a second, smaller lesion in the left lower lobe, accompanied by intermittent haemoptysis, fever, chills, productive cough of white phlegm as well as dizziness and weakness. He had presented previously and was being evaluated for the possibility of malignancy. Investigations had revealed ‘hooklets’ (protoscolices) of hydatid cysts, most likely representing the parasite Echinococcus. Successful surgical excision of the affected lobe, lung decortication, partial pleurectomy and pneumolysis of the adhesions was performed, along with long-term antiparasitic therapy. The initial differential diagnosis for this patient was challenging and required multimodal investigations. The patient made good recovery and continued to be followed by infectious disease specialists for management of antiparasitic therapy.

  • infectious diseases
  • medical management
  • respiratory medicine

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Footnotes

  • Contributors All authors have read and approved the manuscript. WPD and NV contributed to patient care and manuscript preparation. WPD, NV and MGC took part in discussions about the patient and were involved in manuscript preparation and editing. WPD and MGC were involved in manuscript editing.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent for publication Obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.