Case Report: All That Glisters Is Not* Cancer

Properly performed staging in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is necessary to avoid wrong therapeutic decisions. Here we present a case which manifested as advanced NSCLC but ultimately was composed of two different and rare pathologies. The first is a TTF-1 positive axillary lymph node that could be defined either as an unusual isolated differentiated cancer of unknown primary or as an even rarer case of ectopic lung epithelium which underwent malignant transformation. The second is sarcoidosis, a sarcoid-like alteration, in remission after oral steroids. The main implication of a correct diagnosis regards patient outcome and the avoidance of toxic inappropriate systemic chemotherapy.