Pulmonary epithelioid hemangioendothelioma coexisting with pulmonary nodular amyloidosis: case discussion and review of the literature

A 38-year-old female was found to have multiple bilateral lung nodules in a routine chest X-ray examination. Thoracoscopy was performed with biopsy of three nodules from the right lower lobe and Congo red staining showed typical amyloid pattern. Initial diagnosis of pulmonary nodular amyloidosis was made. However, one nodule in the right upper lobe enlarged as detected by follow-up CT scan. The patient underwent F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET)/CT and a significant high FDG uptake in the largest nodule in right upper lobe was observed while the uptake was normal or mildly increased in the other nodules. Meanwhile, right hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes adenopathy was noted. Right upper lobe was resected by thoracotomy. Surprisingly, histopathological findings showed pulmonary epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (PEH) with metastasis of hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes. To our knowledge, this is the first described case of PEH coexisting with pulmonary nodular amyloidosis.