Pleuropulmonary nocardiosis, an unusual radiological presentation: Case report

Autor: Fatiha Bounoua, MD, Naima Daoudi, MD, Mohamed Aghrouch, MD, Asmae Lamrani Hanchi, MD, Nabila Soraa, MD, Hind Serhane, MD, Houda Moubachir, MD
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Radiology Case Reports, Vol 18, Iss 8, Pp 2725-2729 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1930-0433
DOI: 10.1016/j.radcr.2023.04.057
Popis: Nocardiosis is caused by strict aerobic filamentous bacteria of the genus Nocardia belonging to the order Actinomycetales with Actinomyces, Streptomyces and Mycobacterium. The radio-clinical presentation in the chest is often misleading. We report a case of pulmonary nocardiosis with an unusual radiological presentation. A 54-year-old patient, chronic smoker, never treated for pulmonary tuberculosis, who presented with a chronic cough complicated by moderate hemoptysis, all evolving in a context of altered general condition and feverish sensations. The radiological aspect was in favor of a hydro-pneumothorax, the pleural puncture brought back a chocolate colored purulent liquid with the presence of numerous yellow grains and the direct examination showed numerous branched gram-positive bacilli. The bacteriological study allowed to retain the presumptive diagnosis of nocardiosis, the patient was put under antibiotic treatment with a clear clinical and radiological improvement. This observation illustrates the diagnostic difficulty of pulmonary nocardiosis and emphasizes the importance of thinking about nocardiosis in front of any dark thoracic syndrome.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals