Extensive Cryptococcal Tracheitis Mimicking Lymphoma in an AIDS Patient

We describe a case of a 35-year-old man with human immunodeficiency virus infection/acquired immune deficiency syndrome presenting from an outside hospital with a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma. Radiologic imaging showed an infiltrative process with significant tracheal involvement and increased uptake of 18-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose on positron emission tomography. These findings were suspicious for non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma. Flexible bronchoscopy and tissue sampling revealed cryptococcal infection of the trachea. This case presentation is of extensive cryptococcal tracheitis, an extremely rare presentation of endobronchial cryptococcosis. It also emphasizes the difficult radiologic distinction between such unusual endobronchial infections and malignancy.