Granulomatous inflammation in pulmonary pathology of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia: case report with a literature review

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which started in Wuhan, China, in late December 2019, was declared a pandemic, infecting more than twelve million people worldwide. Few studies have reported the findings of lung biopsies in COVID-19. Here, granulomatous inflammation was reported for the first time in COVID-19 lung biopsy. CASE PRESENTATION: A 54-year-old woman presented to a primary care facility with fever, dry cough, and fatigue. Antibiotherapy was administered for 10 days with the diagnosis of upper respiratory tract infection. However, her condition did not improve and she was admitted to the hospital. In physical examination, crepitant rales were heard in both lungs. Anemia and thrombocytopenia were detected in laboratory tests and she was referred to the hematology clinic. Bone marrow aspiration and flow cytometry showed she had acute myeloid leukemia. Computed tomography-integrated positron emission tomography with a history of previous breast cancer revealed a heterogeneous mass-like lesion in the left lung. The primary malignancy could not be ruled out and tru-cut biopsy was performed. Tests for tuberculosis were negative. Throat swab sample was taken and a real-time polymerase chain reaction confirmed that she had COVID-19. Radiological findings were evaluated as the progression of COVID-19 pneumonia on computed tomography 6 days after biopsy. Alveolar damage, edema, vascular congestion, mild inflammatory infiltration, type-2 pneumocyte hyperplasia, interstitial fibrosis, early fibrotic changes, fibrinous, organized pneumonia pattern, noncaseating granulomatous inflammation, and desquamation in alveolar epithelial cells were noted in lung biopsy. CONCLUSIONS: There were only a few case reports that described lung biopsy findings in COVID-19 at the time of manuscript preparation. This was the first case of noncaseating granulomatous inflammation described in a COVID-19 case.