Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Presenting as an Endobronchial Polypoid Mass: A Case Report

An 82-year-old man was admitted due to 1-month history of blood tinged sputum, dyspnea and cough. Night sweats, fevers, weight loss, fatigue and chest pain were not reported at the initial presentation. The patient had a medical history of hypertension that was diagnosed 6 months earlier and this was treated with antihypertensive drug. He is a smoker with a 30-pack-year history and had no familial history of lung disease or cancer. The findings of the basic laboratory investigations such as a complete blood count and the blood chemistry tests were unremarkable. A chest radiograph showed a left hilar mass accompanied by atelectasis of the left upper lobe (Fig. 1A). He underwent a CT scan of the chest (Asteion, Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan), which demonstrated an intraluminal polypoid protruding mass that measured 2 × 1 cm with homogeneous enhancement in the left upper lobe bronchus and nearly total collapse of the left upper lobe (Fig. 1B). The focal areas of ground-glass opacity with reticulation in the posterobasal segment of the left lower lobe were regarded as focal pneumonia. Slightly enlarged lymph nodes were present in the left upper paratracheal, right lower paratracheal, paraaortic and subaortic areas and both the lower paratracheal and left hilar areas (Fig. 1C). Multifocal areas of centrilobular and paraseptal emphysema with bullae in both lungs were also noted. Bronchoscopy revealed a fleshy polypoid mass obJ Korean Soc Radiol 2011;64:147-150