An unusual cause of pulmonary nodules in a patient with relapsing polychondritis.

Pulmonary nodules are defined by a size 3 cm, whereas a lung mass is defined by a size 3 cm. Excellent clinical practice guidelines for evaluating patients with a solitary pulmonary nodule for possible lung cancer have been published.1,2 The appearance of pulmonary nodules in an immunocompromised host is a common clinical problem that falls outside the scope of published algorithms. Because the differential diagnosis includes infection, malignancy, and inflammatory disorders (such as vasculitis and sarcoidosis), a thorough workup is required. The clinician must combine imaging and clinical data to determine a differential diagnosis. After developing a differential diagnosis, an understanding of the risks and benefits of invasive testing, as well as the strengths and limitations of locally available resources, is needed to determine a diagnostic plan that is individualized for the patient. To illustrate this process, we present a case of multiple pulmonary nodules in a woman with a history of relapsing polychondritis.