[Whipple's disease with normal duodenal histology and ankylosing spondylitis]. / Morbus Whipple mit normaler Dünndarmhistologie bei ankylosierender Spondylitis.

HISTORY AND ADMISSION FINDINGS: A 33-year-old woman with increasing back pain was referred to our hospital 8 years ago. As she had ankylosing sacroilitis and peripheral arthritis she was diagnosed as having ankolysing spondylitis with involvement of the peripheral joints. She recently developed persistent diarrhea, abdominal symptoms and weight loss. INVESTIGATIONS: Laboratory findings revealed a chronic inflammatory disease. Infection of the gastrointestinal tract was excluded. Duodenal biopsy was normal on PAS staining, Tropheryma whipplei-DNA was detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). TREATMENT AND COURSE: Initially the patient was treated for 6 months with diclofenac and ibuprofen without improvement of her condition. As the spondylitis persisted, she was given anti-TNF-alpha treatment 7 years after the onset of symptoms. When Whipple's disease was diagnosed this treatment was stopped and antibiotics (ceftriaxone) was started and then continued with co-trimoxazole for one year with significantly improvement in her condition. CONCLUSIONS: In patients presenting with symptoms involving several organs, rare systemic diseases should be considered. If symptoms are typical of Whipple's disease, but duodenal biopsies are negative on PAS staining, a sensitive PCR assay may detect T. whipplei-DNA confirming this infection. Appropriate antibiotic treatment can then be initiated.

MRI and FDG-PET in the assessment of inflammatory aortic arch syndrome in complicated courses of giant cell arteritis.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the use of MRI and FDG-PET for the diagnosis and measurement of disease activity of inflammatory aortic arch syndrome in patients with complicated giant cell arteritis. METHODS: MRI and FDG-PET were performed for 25 patients with giant cell arteritis who presented with a complicated disease course despite immunosuppressive therapy. Disease activity of the thoracic aorta and the supra-aortic arteries as assessed by both modalities was compared with serological (C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)) and clinical findings (Birmingham vasculitis activity score (BVAS.2)). Additionally, the usefulness of MRI for assessment of vessel wall thickening, aneurysms and stenoses was evaluated. RESULTS: In 17/25 patients, MRI disclosed structural vessel lesions suspicious for vasculitis. Active disease was detected by MRI, thoracic PET, and whole body PET in 22, 14 and 20 patients, respectively. While serological and clinical findings correlated significantly with each other, there was no concordance with MRI and only low, non-significant correlation of PET with CRP (r(s) = -0.158, 0.136), ESR (r(s) = -0.232, 0.320) and BVAS.2 (r(s) = -0.064, 0.221) for disease activity. CONCLUSIONS: MRI and PET are unreliable for assessing large-vessel inflammation in patients with giant cell arteritis and pre-existing immunosuppressive therapy. MRI is valuable for its ability to detect morphological vessel lesions, such as aneurysms and stenoses.

Sustained success of therapy with inhaled iloprost for severe pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with systemic sclerosis and pulmonary fibrosis.

CASE REPORT: We report here the case of a woman with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis with pulmonary involvement and severe (WHO functional class III) pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and recurrent cardiac decompensation. The simultaneous presence of primary biliary cirrhosis with markedly elevated transaminase levels constituted a contraindication for bosentan, which would otherwise have been the first-line treatment for PAH. The patient was therefore treated with inhaled iloprost. DISCUSSION: Once inhaled iloprost therapy had been started, we promptly noted a definite and sustained improvement in physical exercise capacity and normalisation of haemodynamic variables. In cases where bosentan is contraindicated, inhaled iloprost is an effective alternative for the treatment of severe PAH.

Bosentan for severe pulmonary arterial hypertension related to systemic sclerosis with interstitial lung disease.

BACKGROUND: The oral dual endothelin (ET) antagonist bosentan has been established as a cornerstone in the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). ET is believed to be a key pathogenic mediator in systemic sclerosis (scleroderma, SSc), causing fibrotic, hypertrophic and inflammatory processes. PAH is one of the resulting deleterious effects in approximately 15% of SSc patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was an open-label prospective observational study of 8 patients aged 34-73 years with symptomatic, severe PAH related to SSc (WHO class III or IV) and mostly, lung fibrosis. PAH diagnosis was ascertained with echocardiography or right heart catheterization. Patients were treated on top of diuretics and anticoagulants with bosentan 62.5 mg twice daily for 4 weeks followed by a maintenance dose of 125 mg twice daily. RESULTS: The mean 6-minute walk distance (data available in 7 patients) increased from 71.9 (+/- 54.7) m at baseline to 191.9 (+/- 104.6) m after 3 months (P = 0.012) and to 202.6 (+/- 108.1) m after 6 months (P = 0.011), respectively. Six of 8 patients improved in the 6-minute walk test, and these 6 patients also improved in World Health Organization functional class. Two patients did not sufficiently respond to bosentan therapy; one of them died. The tolerability of bosentan was good, and there were no discontinuations. Elevations of hepatic aminotransferases above 3 times the upper limit of normal were not recorded. CONCLUSION: Bosentan treatment was well tolerated in this cohort of SSc patients with interstitial lung disease and was effective for treatment of severe PAH in the majority of patients.

[Pulmonary arterial hypertension in collagenoses: clinical features, epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment]. / Pulmonale arterielle Hypertonie bei Kollagenosen: Klinik, Epidemiologie, Pathogenese, Diagnostik und Therapie.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a severe vasculopathy, which is characterised by progressive narrowing and obliteration of the pulmonary arterioles and increased endothelin-1 levels. The increase of vascular resistance in the lung vessels leads to chronic pressure overload and to right heart failure, if untreated. PAH often occurs in association with rheumatic-inflammatory diseases (e.g., in 15% of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), especially in the limited form or in CREST patients) and determines their prognosis: in advanced stages, untreated patients die within a short period. Therefore all SSc patients, particularly the newly diagnosed ones, should be screened for PAH with echocardiography. If PAH is suspected, a right heart catheter should be performed, and if PAH is confirmed, adequate treatment should be initiated. While few years ago lung transplantation was the only option for patients with severe PAH, in recent years enormous progress was seen in drug treatment. Today prostanoids (Ventavis) and the endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan (Tracleer) are available for patients with PAH in WHO/NYHA stage III: they have substantially improved the prognosis of PAH in the last years. Since few months, also the phosphodiesterase inhibitor sildenafil (Revatio) is available. The combination of drugs with different mode of action will likely further improve the prognosis of PAH patients.

[Jaccoud arthritis in systemic lupus erythematosus]. / Jaccoud-Arthritis bei systemischem Lupus erythematodes.

Jaccoud arthritis is a manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus and other rheumatic diseases. It is characterized by non-erosive subluxation and synovialitis ultimately leading to severe deformity of the hands. The clinical aspect may be misleading and suggestive of rheumatoid arthritis manifestations.

Successful therapy of bosentan-refractory pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) with inhalative iloprost.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a severe complication of systemic sclerosis. High vascular resistance in PAH arises from an imbalance between vasodilatory mediators (prostacyclin, NO) and vasoconstrictive mediators (endothelin, thromboxane A-2). Inhaled iloprost and the dual endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan have recently been shown to be effective in controlled clinical trials. Our case report demonstrates that patients with bosentan-refractory PAH can be successfully treated with iloprost inhalation.

Small vessel vasculitis and relapsing panniculitis in tumour necrosis factor receptor associated periodic syndrome (TRAPS).

CASE REPORTS: A 66 year old female patient had relapsing fever and non-suppurative panniculitis suggestive of enigmatic "Weber-Christian disease" (WCD). Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies with specificity for human leucocyte elastase (HLE-ANCA) were detected. A biopsy showed small vessel vasculitis and panniculitis. A 53 year old man had recurrent episodes of abdominal pain, erythematous rash, and myalgia. Fever attacks had stopped a few years ago. A biopsy showed panniculitis and fasciitis. In both patients mutations (R92Q, T50M) of the tumour necrosis factor receptor super family (TNFRSF) 1A gene were disclosed. Mutations of the TNFRSF 1A gene are the cause of tumour necrosis factor receptor associated periodic syndrome (TRAPS). Both patients responded favourably to treatment with the human soluble p75 TNF alpha receptor fusion protein etanercept (2 x 25 mg subcutaneously/week). DISCUSSION: Small vessel vasculitis and panniculitis have not been reported in TRAPS so far. The cases underline the importance of TNF alpha regulation in inflammatory processes including vasculitis. Genetically determined causes of fever may account for some cases of WCD.

[Hereditary periodic fever]. / Hereditäres periodisches Fieber.

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), hyperimmunoglobulinemia D periodic fever syndrome (HIDS), and tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome (TRAPS) are hereditary periodic fever syndromes. FMF is caused by mutations in the Mediterranean fever gene, HIDS by mutations in the mevalonat-kinase gene, and TRAPS by mutations in the TNF-receptor superfamily 1A gene. Impaired function of the encoded proteins, i.e. pyrin in FMF, mevalonat-kinase in HIDS, and the p55 TNF-receptor in TRAPS, induces a dysregulated cytokine balance. Clinical manifestations are relapsing fever, serositis, arthralgia, myalgia, and miscellaneous forms of rash. The diagnosis is made through moleculargenetic analysis of mutations of the MEFV-gene (FMF), MVK-gene (HIDS), or TNFRSF1A-gene (TRAPS). Colchicine is the therapy of choice in FMF. HIDS is treated symptomatically. Impaired TNF-alpha regulation in TRAPS can be treated with etanercept.