1. Pediatric Atypical Mycobacterium Infection Presenting as Wheezing and Concern for Foreign Body Aspiration
- Author
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Prasad John Thottam, Nandini Govil, Darshit Thakrar, and David H. Chi
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Rigid bronchoscopy ,pediatric airway ,Pediatrics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,mycobacterium avium complex ,030106 microbiology ,Disease ,Asymptomatic ,Otolaryngology ,foreign body aspiration ,03 medical and health sciences ,Pediatric Surgery ,0302 clinical medicine ,differential diagnosis ,medicine ,Mycobacterium avium complex ,030223 otorhinolaryngology ,Foreign Body Ingestion ,biology ,business.industry ,General Engineering ,pediatric otolaryngology ,biology.organism_classification ,Surgery ,Atypical mycobacterium ,Foreign body aspiration ,medicine.symptom ,Differential diagnosis ,Radiology ,business - Abstract
Atypical mycobacterium infection most commonly presents as asymptomatic cervical lymphadenitis in immunocompetent children. Over the last several decades, rates of Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection have been increasing in both number and severity, with more cases of pulmonary infection reported in healthy children. However, guidelines on how to treat children with these infections remain unclear. The presentation of this disease is variable and often presents with an indolent course of wheezing that is misdiagnosed as foreign body aspiration. Several case reports have described successful treatment of these children with surgical excision without the need for additional treatment with antimycobacterial agents. We present the case of a healthy 20-month old male with wheezing and concern for foreign body ingestion. Rigid bronchoscopy demonstrated a left bronchus mass. The patient underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) with improvement in respiratory symptoms. Final pathology showed necrotizing granulomatous infection consistent with MAC. This report demonstrates the importance of keeping intrathoracic MAC infection in the differential when evaluating an immunocompetent child with wheezing or shortness of breath.
- Published
- 2016
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