A rare case of pulmonary cryptococcal inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology

In a recent outbreak in British Columbia (BC), Canada, Cryptococcus gattii, a rare species of Cryptococcus, was noted to affect primarily immunocompetent hosts and cause limited pulmonary or CNS disease. We herein report a rare case of a pulmonary inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor caused by a Cryptococcus infection, presumed to be of the gattii species, in a 20‐year‐old immunocompetent college student from Vancouver, BC who presented with a large lung mass. The diagnosis was first made on the fine needle aspirate (FNA) material and was confirmed on the concurrent histologic core biopsy. Cryptococcal inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors have been reported, but neither in the lung nor in the setting of an immunocompetent host. Pulmonary cryptococcosis should therefore be considered in the differential diagnosis of a lung mass, even in an immunocompetent host, especially if the clinical history reveals recent travel to British Columbia where Cryptococcus gattii is endemic. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.