Archive of Didactics in Hematology & Oncology

Thank you Dr. Annie Belzowski for an excellent presentation of pulmonary squamous cell carcinoma complicated by pulmonary abscess

Teaching Points

• Common causes of pulmonary abscess:
  • Bacterial: Anaerobic bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Mycobacteria
  • Fungal: Aspergillus, Coccidioides, Histoplasma, Blastomyces, Cryptococcus
  • Non-infectious: malignancy, embolism, vasculitis, scarcoidosis
• Clindamycin preferred agent, time course dependent on follow up imaging
• Common forms of lung cancer: adenocarcinoma (40%), small cell (15%), squamous cell (30%)