A 64-year-old woman was admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University with obvious chest tightness, chest pain, and cough, and multiple pulmonary nodules were identified on imaging. She previously visited another hospital with chest pain, chest tightness, and cough. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) showed abnormal FDG accumulation, and she was suspected to have lung metastasis. She was administered with gefitinib (250 mg/d) for 2 mo as treatment. However, her clinical manifestations persisted, and the number of pulmonary nodules did not decrease significantly. Her medical history was unremarkable. The patient had no family history of hereditary diseases or cancer. On admission to our hospital, the body temperature of the patient was 37 °C with a pulse rate of 94 beats per minute (bpm); her respiratory rate was 25 breaths per minute and blood pressure was normal. The pain score was 8 on a scale of 1-10. She was slightly short of breath, and lung sounds were absent in the right middle and lower lung lobes. Her heart sounds were normal on auscultation. Hematological analysis showed a white blood cell count of 11.9 × 109/L, with 75.8% of neutrophils; an erythrocyte sedimentation rate of 75 mm/H; and a C-reactive protein level of 59.17 mg/L. Carcinoembryonic antigen levels were normal. Lumbar CT showed diffusely scattered, high-density, non-calcified nodules, up to 13 mm in diameter, in both lungs. Pulmonary nodules were distributed along the tracheal vascular bundle, and the right lung had suffered serious damage with right pleural effusion. A biopsy of bronchial samples from the basal segment of the right lower lobe revealed collagen fibers and inflammatory cell infiltration. Further, alveolar lavage fluid was extracted and analyzed via high-throughput gene expression analysis for infectious pathogens, and Burkholderia and Propionibacterium genera were identified. Following this, the patient underwent a cardiothoracic surgery, wherein two nodules of the left upper lobe were removed for further investigation. Immunohistochemical analysis of these nodules revealed positive expression of CD31, CD34, and Vimentin.