A case analysis of misdiagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis as lung cancer

Objective To improve the accuracy in differentiating diagnosis between pulmonary tuberculosis and lung cancer.Methods Relevant cases during the past 4 years were reviewed.Lessons and know-hows in differentiating diagnosis were studied.Results Rate of misdiagnosis was 45.23%(19 of 42 cases),which accounted for 8.19%(19/232) of lung cancer operations during the same period.Of the 19 cases,14 cases were due to misjudgment by imaging analysis,2 cases by fiber optic bronchoscopy and cytology,and 3 cases by clinical diagnosis.Operations for these patients included total left pneumonectomy(1 case),lobectomy(11 cases),and wedge resection(7 cases).Conclusion Familiarity with image changes in pulmonary tuberculosis would be basically attributed to least misdiagnosis.In some cases hard to be confirmed even with combined evaluation regarding history,symptoms,imaging data,etc. percutaneous fine needle biopsy of the lung would greatly help in avoiding operations by mistake.