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Metastasis and Carcinoma Case Studies / Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment · Journal article
BMC Pulmonary Medicine · August 12, 2026
Early or partial results. Treat as a signal, not a conclusion.
This is a case report of a 67-year-old man with EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma presenting with the rare triad of massive bronchorrhea, a dominant pulmonary nodule, and migratory ground-glass opacities. Treatment with osimertinib (an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor) resulted in rapid resolution of bronchorrhea and complete regression of radiological findings. The report documents an unusual clinical manifestation and supports heightened suspicion for malignancy in patients with unexplained persistent bronchorrhea, but does not provide generalizable evidence on incidence, prognosis, or comparative treatment efficacy.
Single case report with literature review. One 67-year-old male patient presenting with massive bronchorrhea and progressive dyspnea; diagnosis confirmed by elevated sputum CEA and transbronchial biopsy of right lung nodule.. Intervention: Osimertinib (EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor). n = 1.
67-year-old male with massive bronchorrhea and progressive dyspnea; markedly elevated sputum CEA levels and transbronchial biopsy confirmed EGFR-mutated lung adenocarcinoma. Serial chest CT revealed bilateral migratory ground-glass opacities and small nodular lesion in right lower lobe basal segment. Empiric antibiotic therapy and systemic corticosteroid treatment failed to alleviate respiratory symptoms.
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Clinicians should maintain heightened suspicion for lung adenocarcinoma in patients with persistent unexplained bronchorrhea, particularly when conventional treatments (antibiotics, corticosteroids) fail. In EGFR-mutant cases, EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors appear to provide rapid symptom resolution and radiological improvement, supporting their use as first-line therapy.
A single case report with remarkable clinical response to targeted therapy; raises awareness of an atypical presentation but lacks comparative data, control group, or generalizable evidence to guide practice beyond heightened clinical suspicion.
As stated by the source record.
Quoted from the source exactly as published.
Clinicians should maintain heightened suspicion for lung adenocarcinoma in patients with persistent unexplained bronchorrhea, particularly when conventional treatments (antibiotics, corticosteroids) fail. In EGFR-mutant cases, EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors appear to provide rapid symptom resolution and radiological improvement, supporting their use as first-line therapy.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
Lung cancer exhibits profound clinical, radiological, and biological heterogeneity, which poses significant challenges for early recognition and timely diagnosis in select atypical cases. Among rare manifestations, massive bronchorrhea caused by EGFR-mutated lung adenocarcinoma with radiological findings of a dominant pulmonary nodule and migratory ground-glass opacities (GGOs) remains extremely uncommon. A 67-year-old male patient presented with massive bronchorrhea and progressive dyspnea. Serial chest computed tomography (CT) scans revealed bilateral migratory GGOs and a small nodular lesion in the basal segment of the right lower lobe. Empiric antibiotic therapy and subsequent systemic corticosteroid treatment failed to alleviate his respiratory symptoms. Ultimately, markedly elevated sputum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels, combined with pathological results from transbronchial biopsy of the right lung nodule, confirmed a diagnosis of EGFR-mutated lung adenocarcinoma. Treatment with osimertinib achieved rapid resolution of bronchorrhea, accompanied by complete regression of the pulmonary nodule and GGOs during clinical follow-up. Clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for lung adenocarcinoma in patients with persistent unexplained bronchorrhea. For patients harboring EGFR-sensitive mutations, EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) remain the first-line treatment, yielding favorable therapeutic effects on bronchorrhea control and improving survival outcomes.
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