Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 153, No. 1, 01 1996, 450-453.
Polyarteritis nodosa with pulmonary vasculitis
J Nick, R Tuder, R May and J Fisher
Division of Pulmonary Sciences, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver 80262, USA.
Although early postmortem series reported pulmonary involvement as a
relatively common manifestation of polyarteritis nodosa (PAN), using the
modern classification of PAN pulmonary involvement is very uncommon. A
62-yr-old male with well-documented classic PAN was found to have an
arteritis of medium-sized muscular pulmonary arteries. The patient
subsequently demonstrated a complete response to treatment. Of the few
reported cases of PAN with pulmonary manifestations, the majority are
autopsy series and the vascular lesion involves the bronchial arteries.
There are no case reports of patients with pulmonary involvement of PAN who
responded successfully to treatment. This case is the first description of
a premortum diagnosis of pulmonary arteritis in PAN in which the patient
had a response to treatment.
