Alveolar echinococcosis mimicking bilateral lung metastatic cancer

A 62-year-old male presented with dyspnea, cough, and severe chest pain complaints. The patient was diagnosed with hepatic alveolar echinococcosis 13 years ago. Widespread metastasis was seen in the posteroanterior chest radiograph of the patient, who was treated with albendazole (Figure 1).

FİGURE 1:
Chest radiograph shows multiple metastatic nodules in all lobes of both lungs.

The incidence of alveolar echinococcosis caused by the larval forms of the Echinococcus multilocularis has increased in recent years. Lung metastases occur in 7-20% of patients with liver involvement^1,2. Alveolar echinococcosis behaves like a tumor. Treatment with albendazole may slow the growth of metastases¹ in patients with diffuse metastatic nodules in the lung, and alveolar echinococcosis should be considered as a cause.

REFERENCES

• ¹
  Aydin Y, Ogul H, Topdagi O, Ulas AB, Sade R, Ozturk G, et al. Relevance of Pulmonary Alveolar Echinococcosis. Arch Bronconeumol (Engl Ed). 2020;56(12):779-83.
• ²
  Aydın Y, Altuntaş B, Eroğlu A, Oğul H, Aydınlı B. Treatment approach for pulmonary alveolar echinococcosis. Türk Gögüs Kalp Dama. 2017;25(2):223-9.

• Financial Support: The authors declare that the article content was composed in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  05 Aug 2022
• Date of issue
  2022

History

• Received
  16 Mar 2022
• Accepted
  24 May 2022