Case Report: Tracheal infiltration with wheezing revealing Hodgkin's disease

Abstract

Hodgkin's disease with an initial tracheobronchial involvement is extremely rare. The symptoms might be misleading, resulting in a diagnosis delay. We report the case of a 38-year-old woman with a one-month history of wheezing and a non-productive cough. The physical examination revealed a good general state of health, bilateral diffuse wheezing and supra-clavicular lymphadenopathy. The adenopathy biopsy's histopathology revealed Hodgkin's disease. The whole body FDG-PET scan was an important tool to assess the diagnosis as well as for the staging. The patient was treated with chemotherapy. Another unusual aspect is the tracheobronchial metastasis confirmed by a bronchial biopsy. Thus, our patient was put on a second-line chemotherapy. She died one year after the initial diagnosis. To conclude, it is a rare case of an Hodgkin lymphoma with a tracheobronchial relapse. It should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a tracheal tumor.