Discussion
Diagnosis With Brief Discussion
- Diagnosis
- Adult Onset Still’s Disease
- Radiologic Findings
- Figs 1. Chest PA shows prominent hila and widening of right paratracheal stripe.
Fig 2-3. Axial and coronal chest CT scans show multiple enhancing and ehlarged lymph nodes in the neck, mediastinum and both hila.
Figs 4. Follow-up chest CT scans show reducing the size of lymphadenopathy.
Fig 5. Follow-up chest PA shows enlarged cardiac silhouette.
Fig. 6. Hand AP shows multiple joint swelling of the hand and wrist.
- Brief Review
- Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a rare, systemic inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology, characterized by daily high spiking fevers, evanescent rash and arthritis. There is no single diagnostic test for AOSD, and diagnosis is based on clinical criteria and usually necessitates the exclusion of infectious, neoplastic and autoimmune diseases.
Adult Still’s disease is defined as the clinical and biological signs:
- fever > higher than 39°C;
- joint pain and swelling;
- skin rash on the trunk and limbs during the fever spikes;
- muscle pain;
- sore throat, corresponding pharyngitis;
- palpable lymph nodes;
- leukocytosis, especially neutrophils;
- biological hepatitis, elevated AST/SGOT;
- elevated ferritin, useful finding for orienting the diagnosis;
- no sign of autoimmunity in the blood;
- no microbial agent in throat swabs.
In our case, clinical findings include fever, sputum, joint pain and swelling, skin rash (6 month ago), palpable lymph nodes on the neck, leukocytosis (18400) and elevated neutrophils (95%), elevated AST/ALT(247/83), elevated ferritin (>2000), LDH (2720), elevated ESR, AIT (-), DNAT (-), ANCAT (-), C3/C4 80/25, normocytic normochromic anemia
The major radiographic abnormalities of AOSD are multiple cervical, mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathy, joint swelling, pericardial effusion. Differential diagnosis of multiple lymphadenopathy include lymphoma, tuberculosis, infectious disease, neoplastic disease, Kikuchi disease, etc.
The diagnosis of AOSD could be applied most confidently to an illness of adults in which fever, skin rash, remission of multiple lymphadenopathy, joint swelling, pericardial effusion and/or pleural effusion as well as specific laboratory findings of leukocytosis, elevated ferritin, elevated LDH, and elevated AST/ALT.
Treatment includes the use of corticosteroids, often in combination with immunosuppressants (e.g. methotrexate, gold, azathioprine, leflunomide, tacrolimus, ciclosporin and cyclophosphamide) and intravenous immunoglobulin. Biological agents (e.g. anti-TNFα, anti-IL-1 and anti-IL-6) have been successfully used in refractory cases.
Approximately 1/3 of patients have chronic persistent disease with progressive joint damage. Half of all AOSD patients require some medication 10 years after their illness.
Still we have interest why the biopsy-obtained lymph node demonstrated histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis as same as Kikuchi disease.
- References
- 1. Fautrel B. Adult onset Still’s disease. Orphanet encyclopedia, Janvier 2004. http://www.orpha.net/data/photo/GB/uk-still.pdf
2. Shin JW, Park NJ, Lee JW, Kwon OH, Lee SK. Increased serum ferritin concentration in adult-onset Still’s disease: a case report. Korean J Clin Pathol 16(4) 1996
3. Kontzias, Apostolos, Efthimiou, Petros. Adult onset Still's disease: pathogenesis, clinical manifestations and therapeutic advances. Drugs 2008; 68(3); 319-337
- Keywords
- Mediastinum, Multiple organ, Non-infectious inflammation,