ABSTRACT

Pneumonia is the leading cause of death from infection among cancer patients and second most common cause of death after uncontrolled cancer itself.  Therefore, the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia are critical to outcomes among cancer patients.  During the workup of a symptom or sign, such as cough, fever or chills, abnormalities in imaging studies of the lungs are commonly detected.  Consideration of the differential diagnosis of a lung infiltrate in a cancer patient includes both infectious, as well as several common non-infectious, causes.  Failure to accurately diagnose non-infectious causes of lung infiltrates can lead to unnecessary treatment with antibiotics, and, more importantly, in failure to address the underlying pathophysiologic process.  This chapter is focused on the many clinical presentations that mimic infectious pneumonia.