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Mediastinal mass mimicking a tumor in a patient with bladder cancer after bacillus Calmette-Guerin treatment

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Abstract

We describe the case of a 78-year-old male with bladder cancer who developed a mediastinal mass after intravesical immunotherapy with live Mycobacterium bovis BCG. The clinical diagnosis was mediastinal tumor suggestive for lymphoma. However, cultures of the biopsy specimens grew an acid-fast organism, which was identified as M. bovis BCG. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case in which a postinstillation BCG infection induced a mediastinal mass that mimicked a tumor in a patient with bladder cancer.

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Acknowledgement

The authors wish to thank Susan Dean for her assistance in data collection and Dr. David Ashkin for his critical review of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, USA

    A. Somoskovi, J. Dormandy & M. Salfinger

  2. Department of Respiratory Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

    A. Somoskovi

  3. Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Disease, Samuel S. Stratton Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Albany, NY, USA

    C. Carlyn

  4. Bureau of Laboratories, Florida Department of Health, 4052 Bald Cypress Way, Bin A-15, Tallahassee, FL, 32399-1716, USA

    M. Salfinger

Authors
  1. A. Somoskovi
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  2. C. Carlyn
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  3. J. Dormandy
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  4. M. Salfinger
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Correspondence to M. Salfinger.

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Somoskovi, A., Carlyn, C., Dormandy, J. et al. Mediastinal mass mimicking a tumor in a patient with bladder cancer after bacillus Calmette-Guerin treatment. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 26, 937–940 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-007-0390-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-007-0390-5

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