title: Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's granulomatosis) with hard palate and bronchial perforations treated with rituximab - a case report.
abstract: We present a case of a 57-year-old woman suffering from granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), who in the seventh months of immunosuppressive treatment (cyclophosphamide) progressed with new pulmonary changes and perforations of the hard palate and bronchi. Rituximab was introduced resulting in B-cell depletion and disappearance of anti-PR3 antibody. Palatal holes have substantially diminished and all bronchial perforations disappeared, covered by fibrous tissue. In the fourth month after rituximab administration, large scarring obstruction of the right main bronchus with upper and middle lobes atelectasis emerged. Because of increasing dyspnoea, stenotic bronchus was re-opened by bronchoscopy. Intervention was complicated by bilateral pneumothorax and later, on the seventh day, by fatal pulmonary bleeding. To our knowledge, this is the first report of GPA refractory to cyclophosphamide complicated by palatal and bronchial perforations.
authors.affiliation: II Department of Internal Medicine, Unit of Allergy and Clinical Immnology, Jagiellonian University, Medical College, Kraków, Poland. joanna.kosalka@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kosałka
authors.forename: Stanisława
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bazan-Socha
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zugaj
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ignacak
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zuk
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sokołowska
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Musiał
mesh_terms: D001980:Bronchi / Q000293:injuries* / Q000473:pathology; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D014890:Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D000069283:Rituximab / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D007155:Immunologic Factors; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D000069283:Rituximab