An elderly female, lifelong non-smoker, with rheumatoid arthritis treated with methotrexate and prednisone for 10 years was referred for evaluation of incidentally detected, randomly distributed pulmonary nodules on a CT performed for pleuritic chest pain and dyspnoea (figure 1A). Subsequent [18F]fluoro-d-glucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) showed the nodules had increased in size and were FDG-avid (figure 1B). Patient underwent percutaneous biopsy at an external institution with pathology reported to be highly suspicious for lung adenocarcinoma.

(A) CT angiogram performed for evaluation of pleuritic chest pain and dyspnoea demonstrated incidental solid, non-calcified left lower lobe subpleural predominant pulmonary nodules (arrow, additional nodules not shown). Note dependent atelectasis presenting as ground-glass opacities. (B) [18F]fluoro-d-glucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography performed 4 months later showed these nodules had more than doubled in size and were FDG-avid (arrow). No additional FDG avidity was detected elsewhere.

After an unrevealing bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage, the patient was referred to our institution for further care. Re-evaluation of the previous percutaneous …