title: A 43-year-old man with antisynthetase syndrome presenting with acute worsening of dyspnea.
abstract: A 43-year-old man with antisynthetase syndrome was seen in our pulmonary clinic for worsening dyspnea. He was recently diagnosed with antisynthetase syndrome because he had nonspecific interstitial pneumonitis on a surgical lung biopsy and polymyositis associated with anti-Jo-1 and anti-SSA-52 autoantibodies. Along with his worsening dyspnea, he also had a dry cough, lower extremity edema, and abdominal distension. He had gained 11 kg over 1 month. He had been taking prednisone 40 mg daily 2 months prior, which had been recently weaned to 20 mg daily. He had also been on mycophenolate mofetil but had recently discontinued it on his own.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis. Electronic address: hkulkarn@dom.wustl.edu.
authors.forename: Hrishikesh S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.affiliation: Cardiothoracic Imaging Section, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.
authors.forename: Fernando R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Gutierrez
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis; Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Despotovic
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis.
authors.forename: Tonya D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Russell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001706:Biopsy; D018450:Disease Progression; D004415:Dyspepsia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D009220:Myositis / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy; D000069283:Rituximab; D013256:Steroids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D013256:Steroids; D000069283:Rituximab