Emergency surgery for lung cancer with abscess formation after transbronchial biopsy

Abscess formation in lung cancer after transbronchial biopsy ( TBB ) is a rare complication with no standard consensus on a coping strategy or prophylaxis. We describe an instructive case of lung cancer which developed into an abscess after TBB . An 80‐year‐old man with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus underwent TBB for diagnosing a mass lesion in the left upper lobe. The TBB specimen confirmed a diagnosis of lung cancer, and he was scheduled for radical surgery. However, the tumour was revealed to have progressed into an enlarged abscess 24 days after TBB . Prompt use of meropenem failed to relieve the infection, hence we performed emergency left upper lobectomy. Poorly controlled diabetes mellitus was considered to be a risk for the formation of a tumour abscess after TBB . It was difficult to control the infection with conservative treatment using antibiotics; emergency surgical resection was considered to be the safest strategy for recovery.