{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T08:11:23Z","timestamp":1771920683671,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":14,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,14]],"date-time":"2026-01-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1768348800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    This is a case report of a 17-year-old female patient who presented with a painless, palpable swelling on the anterior chest wall. Imaging studies revealed osteolytic lesions involving the manubrium and adjacent ribs, along with multiple enlarged lymph nodes, raising a high suspicion of malignant tumour with metastasis. An ultrasound-guided needle biopsy revealed the pathological finding of \u201cgranulomatous inflammation.\u201d Multidisciplinary consultation and clinical indicators, including a strongly positive purified protein derivative (PPD) test and markedly elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, were taken to indicate a potential diagnosis of tuberculosis. Consequently, subsequent metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of the biopsy specimen identified nucleic acid sequences belonging to the\n                    <jats:italic>Mycobacterium tuberculosis<\/jats:italic>\n                    complex, thereby confirming the rare diagnosis of sternal tuberculosis. Following the administration of standardised anti-tuberculosis therapy, a substantial reduction in the size of the lesion was observed, thereby validating the accuracy of the diagnosis. This case underscores the importance of considering extrapulmonary tuberculosis in the differential diagnosis of bone-destructive lesions and demonstrates the critical value of mNGS technology in confirming challenging infectious diseases.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2025.1708834","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,14]],"date-time":"2026-01-14T06:30:59Z","timestamp":1768372259000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Case Report: Metagenomic next-generation sequencing diagnosed a rare case of sternal tuberculosis mimicking a malignant tumour"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Jiawei","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Gaozhou People\u2019s Hospital, Guangdong Medical University","place":["Maoming, Guangdong, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Cong","family":"Lan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Gaozhou People\u2019s Hospital, Guangdong Medical University","place":["Maoming, Guangdong, China"]},{"name":"Guangdong Medical University","place":["Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yunjie","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Gaozhou People\u2019s Hospital, Guangdong Medical University","place":["Maoming, Guangdong, China"]},{"name":"Guangdong Medical University","place":["Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Huilong","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Gaozhou People\u2019s Hospital, Guangdong Medical University","place":["Maoming, Guangdong, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hanping","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Gaozhou People\u2019s Hospital, Guangdong Medical University","place":["Maoming, Guangdong, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Haiquan","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Gaozhou People\u2019s Hospital, Guangdong Medical University","place":["Maoming, Guangdong, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Siyao","family":"Che","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Medical University","place":["Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China"]},{"name":"Affiliated Gaozhou People\u2019s Hospital, Guangdong Medical University","place":["Maoming, Guangdong, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ying","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Gaozhou People\u2019s Hospital, Guangdong Medical University","place":["Maoming, Guangdong, China"]},{"name":"Guangdong Medical University","place":["Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"33","DOI":"10.4103\/jgid.jgid_64_23","article-title":"Sternoclavicular tuberculosis: an unusual presentation","volume":"16","author":"Chandanwale","year":"2024","journal-title":"J Glob Infect Dis"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.13107\/jocr.2021.v11.i11.2516","article-title":"Sternal tuberculosis: case series of two cases","volume":"11","author":"Asif","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Orthop Case 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paradox in musculo-skeletal tuberculosis in an immunocompetent adult male; a case report from a tertiary care hospital","volume":"9","author":"Chaskar","year":"2015","journal-title":"J Clin Diagn Res"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"580","DOI":"10.1186\/s13256-021-03008-9","article-title":"Sternal swelling presenting as tuberculosis: a case report","volume":"15","author":"Rajan","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Med Case Rep"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"447","DOI":"10.1007\/s002560000207","article-title":"Tuberculosis of the sternum and clavicle: imaging findings in 15 patients","volume":"29","author":"Shah","year":"2000","journal-title":"Skeletal Radiol"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4065","DOI":"10.1007\/s11033-020-05413-7","article-title":"Advances in diagnosis of tuberculosis: an update into molecular diagnosis of Mycobacterium 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