Atypical Pulmonary Carcinoid Tumor Encapsulated in a Staphylococcus
aureus Infection
Abstract
To the editor: We present a 13-year-old boy with mild persistent asthma
and obstructive sleep apnea who initially presented with fever, dyspnea,
cough, night sweats and myalgia for 4 days. He reported having an
intermittent “hacking cough” for years. Physical examination was
significant for diffuse crackles in the right lung base, decreased
breath sounds and mild digital clubbing. Initial chest x-ray (CXR)
revealed right middle lobe (RML) and right lower lobe (RLL) opacities
with right pleural effusion interpreted and treated as community
acquired pneumonia. He was followed as an outpatient by his pediatrician
and referred to our pediatric pulmonology clinic months later for
persistent RLL atelectasis and chronic cough. He was well appearing with
similar physical examination findings as described earlier. Laboratory
tests including sweat chloride, cystic fibrosis genetic panel,
immunoglobulin levels, complement, pneumococcal and tetanus titers were
normal.