Copyright
©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Nov 16, 2025; 13(32): 111879
Published online Nov 16, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i32.111879
Published online Nov 16, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i32.111879
Early pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis mimicking lung malignancy: A case report
Hee Suk Jung, Hyun Jung Kim, Kwan Wook Kim, Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, CHA Bundang Medical Center, Seongnam-si 13496, South Korea
Author contributions: Jung HS and Kim KW contributed to the manuscript writing and editing and data collection; Kim HJ contributed to the data analysis; Kim KW contributed to the conceptualization and supervision of the report; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Kwan Wook Kim, MD, PhD, Department of Thoracic and Cardio
Received: July 14, 2025
Revised: August 18, 2025
Accepted: October 10, 2025
Published online: November 16, 2025
Processing time: 124 Days and 4.2 Hours
Revised: August 18, 2025
Accepted: October 10, 2025
Published online: November 16, 2025
Processing time: 124 Days and 4.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (PPFE) frequently mimics lung malignancy on radiographs, leading to challenges in diagnosing PPFE early. This case illustrated that the localized fibrotic lesions with moderate fluorodeoxyglucose uptake on positron emission tomography/computed tomography initially suggested malignancy. However, after surgical biopsy and histopathological examination including elastic fiber staining, the patient was accurately diagnosed with PPFE. Early suspicion of PPFE and initiation of antifibrotic therapy, such as nintedanib, may effectively stabilize early-stage disease and prevent progression.