A thoracic mass infiltrating the chest wall
Petroianni, A.; Conti, V.; Terzano, C.
European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences 15(3): 345-348
2011
ISSN/ISBN: 1128-3602 PMID: 21528783 Document Number: 649885
A case of thoracic mass infiltrating the chest wall mimicking a pulmonary invasive neoplasm is reported. Differential diagnosis and characteristic radiological and histological imaging had a decisive role in the case management. Actinomycosis is caused by a gram-positive, filamentous, microaerophilic bacteria. About 15% of the infections caused by Actinomyces involve the thorax. If not promptly diagnosed and treated thoracic actinomycosis may determine contiguous and systemic involvement. Actinomycosis is an anaerobic-to-microaerophilic bacteria and direct identification and isolation are difficult to obtain. In depth discussion diagnostic and therapeutic features are described in this report.