Tuberculosis Abscess of the Chest Wall

A 42-year-old male presented in June of 2011 with nocturnal fevers, night sweats, an 8-kg weight loss, and a cutaneous right chest wall mass. In March of 2013, a computed tomographic scan of the thorax showed a 54 x 18 x 26-mm right lower lobe mass with peripheral calcifications, and in May of 2013, he was admitted for a segmental lobectomy, in which histologic examination of the pulmonary tissue revealed granulomas with multinucleated giant cells. The tissue was negative for acid-fast bacillae on Ziehl-Neelsen stain, and culture grew Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Therefore, he was started on four first-line antituberculosis medications and showed rapid symptomatic improvement.