Mycobacterium Abscessus presenting as a lung mass

• Siddharth Ravindranath Waghmare,*  
• Snehal Kawade,  
• Jairaj P Nair

Abstract

Introduction: Mycobacterium abscessus is one of the leading causes of non-tuberculous mycobacterial infection. It presents commonly as lung nodules. We report a rare presentation of mycobacterium abscessus as a lung mass. Case presentation: A 38-year-old man with complaints of fever, chronic cough, and chest pain presented to our outpatient department. His chest X-ray and CT scan were suggestive of a left lower lobe mass lesion. The sputum cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test was negative for tuberculosis. The patient was then subjected to bronchoscopy. Mycobacterium abscessus was detected on bronchial washing. This patient was started on a multidrug regime. It consisted of an injection (intramuscular) of amikacin (thrice a week), oral linezolid, clarithromycin, and moxifloxacin. After 1 month of therapy, there was complete resolution of symptoms and X-ray opacity. The patient was continued on the aforementioned treatment. Conclusion: The clinical presentation of Mycobacterium abscessus is non-specific. In this case report it presented as a mass lesion. This highlights the varied radiological presentation of the infection. Non-tuberculosis mycobacterium infection should be suspected if the initial workup of tuberculosis is negative.

Keywords

M. Abscessus, Mass lesion, NTM