title: Three patients with familial Mediterranean fever: a possible underdiagnosed entity in Japan.
abstract: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by periodic fever and serosal inflammation. FMF is mostly reported in the Mediterranean region and is considered to be rare in Japan with estimated 292 cases. We treated three unrelated FMF patients in one year in a city with 144,000 residents. Two of the three patients were over 70 years old. FMF may therefore be underdiagnosed in Japan.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Iwakuni Medical Center, Japan.
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokota
authors.forename: Masamichi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Migita
authors.forename: Eiichiro
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Kenjiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kimura
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D010505:Familial Mediterranean Fever / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*