M Monem Gillan | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

Steroid-refractory ulcerative colitis treated with corticosteroids, metronidazole and vancomycin: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence elucidating the pathogenic mechanisms of ulcerative colitis (UC) has accumulated and the disease is widely assumed to be the consequence of genetic susceptibility and an abnormal immune response to commensal bacteria. However evidence regarding an infectious etiology in UC remains elusive. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a provocative case of UC with profound rheumatologic involvement directly preceded by Clostridium difficile infection and accompanying fever, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and arthritis. Colonic biopsy revealed a histopathology suggestive of UC. Antibiotic treatment eliminated detectable levels of enteric pathogens but did not abate symptoms. Resolution of symptoms was procurable with oral prednisone, but tapering of corticosteroids was only achievable in combination therapy with vancomycin and metronidazole. CONCLUSIONS: An infectious pathogen may have both precipitated and exacerbated autoimmune disease attributes in UC, symptoms of which could be resolved only with a combination of corticosteroids, vancomycin and metronidazole. This may warrant the need for more perceptive scrutiny of C. difficile and the like in patients with UC.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Hashimoto's thyroiditis presenting as bilateral knee arthropathy.

Hashimoto's thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease associated with antimicrosomal antibodies. Thyroid failure from any cause can lead to hypothyroidism which has numerous manifestations, including rheumatic. Rheumatic or musculoskeletal symptoms may be the initial presentation of hypothyroidism. A case is described in which knee pain was the presenting symptom in a patient with Hashimoto's thyroiditis without any other sign or symptom of hypothyroidism. Synovial fluid was non-inflammatory and lab tests were consistent with hypothyroidism secondary to Hashimoto's thyroiditis. The non-inflammatory arthralgia and arthritis, stiffness and musculoskeletal signs of hypothyroidism were completely reversible with adequate thyroid replacement hormone. Knee effusions are a common sign in hypothyroidism with a sluggish bulge sign, which is due to highly viscous synovial fluid. Purpose of this case is early diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism by primary care physicians, which can probably prevent many patients from developing polyarthritis associated with hypothyroidism.

Adult↗