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CASE REPORT article

Front. Med.

Sec. Pulmonary Medicine

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1599268

This article is part of the Research TopicCase Reports in Pulmonary Medicine 2025View all 5 articles

Pulmonary Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma with Concurrent Organizing Pneumonia: A Case Report

Provisionally accepted
  • Zunyi Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zunyi, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Primary pulmonary lymphoma represents an uncommon extranodal manifestation of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, with atypical clinical and radiographic features frequently leading to diagnostic challenges. Herein, we present a rare case of a 56-year-old female who presented with recurrent pyrexia. Initial thoracic computed tomography (CT) demonstrated a mass-like consolidation in the left lower lobe with bilateral pulmonary nodules. Transbronchial biopsy established organizing pneumonia; however, underlying malignancy could not be excluded. Following high-dose prednisolone therapy, clinical improvement was observed with corresponding radiographic resolution. Upon corticosteroid discontinuation, febrile recurrence developed with CT demonstrating bilateral pulmonary lesion progression. Repeat bronchoscopy revealed endobronchial lesions, though biopsy demonstrated only atypical cellular features without definitive diagnosis. Six months after initial presentation, cervical lymphadenopathy developed, and excisional lymph node biopsy confirmed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Following four cycles of standard R-CHOP chemotherapy with RECIST criteria assessment, partial radiographic response of pulmonary lesions was documented. This case represents a documented coexistence of primary pulmonary DLBCL and organizing pneumonia, offering unique insights into diagnostic challenges and therapeutic implications.

Keywords: Primary pulmonary lymphoma, Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Organizing pneumonia, Pulmonary neoplasm, Corticosteroid therapy, Bronchoscopy, Immunohistochemistry, Extranodal lymphoma

Received: 24 Mar 2025; Accepted: 10 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Lu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Xiao-Feng Lu, Zunyi Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zunyi, China

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