Vol.18 No.1

Case Report

A case of pulmonary asbestosis presenting with temporal arteritis involving multiple medium-sized vessels

Authors

Shintaro Hirata1 , Noboru Hattori1 , Nobuhisa Ishikawa1 , Kazunori Fujitaka1 , Kazuhiko Kumagai1 , Yasuyuki Taooka1 , Yoshinori Haruta1 , Akihito Yokoyama1 , Nobuoki Kohno1

  • Department of Molecular and Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-Ku, Hiroshima, 734-8551, Hiroshima, Japan
Received:

22 February 2007

Accepted:

1 October 2007

Published online:

26 December 2007

Full Text

PDF　(member's only)

Abstract

A 76-year-old woman with pulmonary asbestosis was admitted with fever and polymyalgia. She subsequently developed a visual disorder, hemoptysis, and hemoperitoneum. A biopsy of the temporal artery revealed the presence of giant-cell arteritis. CT and angiography showed hemorrhaging from the bronchial and abdominal arteries. These observations suggested temporal arteritis in which medium-sized vessels were involved. This case implies the association between vasculitis and asbestosis, and suggests a problem in the classification of vasculitides.

Key words

Temporal arteritis  Medium-sized vessel vasculitis - Hemoptysis - Abdominal hemorrhage - Pulmonary asbestosis