A novel diagnostic approach for pneumonia using fine-needle aspiration, electromagnetic navigational bronchoscopy and rapid on-site evaluation.

Cavitary lung lesions are common in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infections. Both atypical infections and thoracic malignancies can manifest as a cavitary pulmonary lesion. Standard bronchoscopy is commonly used to evaluate these abnormalities but is limited in its ability to fully assess for cancer and infection. Bronchoalveolar lavage samples are likely to aid in the diagnosis of infection but are less useful in the evaluation of malignancy. In addition, many of these pulmonary lesions are located in the periphery of the lung and are not accessible for tissue sampling by standard bronchoscopy. We present a unique presentation of pneumonia and discuss the utility of electromagnetic navigational bronchoscopy in the evaluation of immunocompromised patients with peripheral cavitary lung lesion.