Case Report

Cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa in a patient with Crohn’s disease

Authors

Atsushi Komatsuda¹, Koji Kinoshita¹, Masaru Togashi¹, Nobuki Maki¹, Rie Masai¹, Hidetaka Niitsu², Setsuya Ohtani³, Masato Sageshima⁴, Ken-ichi Sawada¹ and Hideki Wakui¹

1. Third Department of Internal Medicine, Akita University School of Medicine, 1-1-1 Hondo, Akita 010-8543, Japan
2. Department of Hematology, Municipal Akita General Hospital, Akita, Japan
3. Department of Gastroenterology, Municipal Akita General Hospital, Akita, Japan
4. Department of Pathology, Municipal Akita General Hospital, Akita, Japan

Received:

16 April 2008

Accepted:

30 June 2008

Published online:

20 August 2008

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Abstract

A 19-year-old Japanese woman with a 4-year history of Crohn’s disease (CD) developed high fever, polyarthralgia, and painful subcutaneous nodules of the legs. A skin biopsy showed panarteritis with fibrinoid necrosis in the deep dermis. Endoscopic examination showed aphthous lesions in the entire colon. She was diagnosed with cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) associated with CD. Steroid therapy improved her symptoms. To our knowledge, this is the first Japanese case of cutaneous PAN associated with CD.

Key words

Crohn’s disease - Subcutaneous nodules - Inflammatory bowel disease - Polyarteritis nodosa