title: Life-threatening vasculitis associated with sarcoidosis.
abstract: We document the case of a young woman with an 8-year history of sarcoidosis managed with low doses of prednisone, who presented with leu-cocytoclastic and medium-size vessel vasculitis. She developed first a hemorrhagic stroke, followed by malignant hypertension and gangrene of the limbs requiring multiple amputations. Vasculitis preceding or associated with sarcoidosis is an uncommon event, rarely leading to a life-threatening complication requiring intense immunosuppressive therapy. In this patient, otherwise unexplained severe vasculitis occurred during low dose corticosteroid therapy and in the absence of active sarcoidosis. Vasculitis must be considered a cause of various complications in patients with sarcoidosis.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Fellow (H.E.); Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine (C.R.O'C); Professor of Pathology, Chief of Pathology (E.C); Professor of Medicine, Head, Division of Rheumatology (A.J.R.), Cooper Hospital University Medical Center, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Camden, New Jersey.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Eid
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Oʼconnor
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Catalano
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Reginato