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

Abstract

Hodgkin's disease with an initial tracheobronchial involvement is not common. 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 associated with a dry cough. The physical examination revealed a good general state of health, bilateral wheezing and supra-clavicular lymphadenopathy. The adenopathy biopsy's histopathology revealed Hodgkin lymphoma. 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 an atypical clinical presentation of an Hodgkin lymphoma with a tracheobronchial relapse. It should be considered in the differential diagnosis of asthma or a tracheal tumor.