Unveiling the Impostor: Pseudomesotheliomatous Adenocarcinoma of the Pleura

IntroductIonAdenocarcinoma is a tumor of mucus-producing glandular cells.Pulmonary adenocarcinoma falls under the umbrella of nonsmall cell type of lung cancer (NSCLC) with a localized extrapulmonary growth pattern, mounting as a pleural malignancy, which is a very rarefied subsistence."Pseudomesotheliomatous carcinoma" 1 is a variant of peripheral lung adenocarcinoma mimicking mesothelioma radiologically.Both of these can be differentiated via electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry (IHC) markers. 2 Contrasting impersonates of adenocarcinoma 3 are mass, consolidation, cavitation, lymphadenopathy, fibrosis, ground glass opacity, pleural effusion with thickening, pleural plaques, or can be confused with interstitial lung diseases and tuberculosis.Adenocarcinoma harbors a "driver mutation"; thus, the targeted therapies are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Currently, FDA-approved molecularly targeted therapies 4 are available for common subsets, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements.