title: Pulmonary nocardiosis in patients with connective tissue disease: A report of two cases.
abstract: Reported here are 2 patients with connective tissue disease who developed pulmonary nocardiosis. Case 1 involved a 73-year-old man with malignant rheumatoid arthritis treated with prednisolone 25 mg/day. Chest X-rays revealed a pulmonary cavity and bronchoscopy detected Nocardia species. The patient was successfully treated with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Case 2 involved a 41-year-old woman with systemic lupus erythematosus. The patient received remission induction therapy with 50 mg/day of prednisolone and tacrolimus. Six weeks later, a chest CT scan revealed a pulmonary cavity; bronchoscopy resulted in a diagnosis of pulmonary nocardiosis. The patient had difficulty tolerating trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, so she was switched to and successfully treated with imipenem/cilastatin and amikacin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hagiwara
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Hiroto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsuboi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Chihiro
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hagiya
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yokosawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Tomoya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirota
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ebe
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ogishima
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Hiromitsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Asashima
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Yuya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Naoto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Umeda
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigemi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hitomi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan;
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sumida
keywords: Connective tissue disease; immunosuppressive therapy; nocardia; pulmonary nocardiosis