[Polyangiitis overlap syndrome]

Abstract

A 45-year-old woman developed cold paraesthesias, severe pain in the finger-tips of both hands and acral necroses, at first pinhead-sized but gradually enlarging. She had been a heavy smoker for many years, was hypertensive and had sustained a myocardial infarction 10 years previously. Angiography demonstrated bilateral occlusion of digital arteries and Doppler-ultrasound showed occlusion of both internal carotid arteries. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate was greatly increased to 101/130 mm. The symptoms improved during rheological treatment and administration of methylprednisolone, but then nonspecific abdominal pain occurred, together with intermittent claudication of the left leg, and she had numerous haemoptyses. The chest radiograph showed finely reticular shadows in both lungs. Histological examination of peribronchial tissue revealed typical signs of vasculitis. The patient became oliguric (creatinine up to 5.5 mg/dl). The titre of antineutrophil cytoplasm antibodies (cANCA) was very high. Despite treatment with cyclophosphamide and glucocorticoids the renal failure got worse, she had a stroke and severe anginal attacks developed. She died 25 weeks after the first admission from cardiocirculatory failure. As the patient's signs were those of several kinds of vasculitis, the polyangitis overlap syndrome seems the most likely diagnosis in retrospect.