A Rare Case of a Massive Food Bolus Mimicking Lung Cancer

Tracheobronchial aspiration is a very common and serious medical condition. It can present acutely with an aspiration pneumonia, or it can be chronic and occur over a long period of time. In some instances, the diagnosis can be missed, and patients may be treated for years for other medical conditions such as asthma, with no significant improvement. We present here a very interesting case of a 69-year-old gentleman with multiple comorbidities who presented with a fever and shortness of breath. He was initially diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia, but when he did not improve, a bronchoscopy was performed, which showed a mass in the right bronchus suspicious for a carcinoid tumor. However, a biopsy was taken and sent to pathology for analysis, which showed food material. He underwent a rigid bronchoscopy for mass removal, which indeed confirmed that the whole mass was composed of food material as a result of tracheobronchial aspiration.