A man with culture sterile cavitating lung lesions: molecular techniques can provide the key to diagnosis
Ranvir S. P. Cheema, Prabhjoyt K. Kler, Alpha Madu, Joanna Macve, Andrew MacDuff- Microbiology (medical)
- Microbiology
A 20-year-old male presented to the Emergency Department with pyrexia, dyspnoea, chest pain and haemoptysis. Cavitating lung lesions were noted on chest X-ray and the patient was admitted to the intensive care unit where he was intubated and ventilated. Routine investigations including serial cultures did not provide an aetiological diagnosis. As such, a CT-guided lung biopsy was carried out and 16S rDNA PCR was undertaken on the sample. This identified