title: Wegener's granulomatosis in which rheumatoid factor was useful for evaluating the disease status: a case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Accurate evaluation of disease status is very important in treatment of Wegener's granulomatosis
  
  
  METHODS
  A 73-year-old Japanese man presented with chronic sinusitis and otitis media. He was admitted to our hospital because of bilateral lung nodules. Cytoplasmic antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody was negative but his rheumatoid factor was high. He was diagnosed with limited Wegener's granulomatosis and received remission induction therapy. His serum rheumatoid factor level correlated with the Wegener's granulomatosis state when he experienced a severe infection and recurrence due to Wegener's granulomatosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We describe a case of Wegener's granulomatosis in which rheumatoid factor was helpful for evaluating the therapeutic effect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Chugoku Rosai General Hospital, 1-5-1, Hiro-tagaya, Kure-shi, Hiroshima 737-0193, Japan. internal.medicine.crgh@gmail.com
authors.forename: Hideto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oshita
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Teppei
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hoshino
authors.forename: Keitaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Omori
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Yukikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Awaya