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A Case of Erythema Nodosum Leprosum Reaction with Diffuse Alveolar Haemorrhage, Successfully Treated by Pulsed Methylprednisolone

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A Case of Erythema Nodosum Leprosum Reaction with Diffuse Alveolar Haemorrhage, Successfully Treated by Pulsed Methylprednisolone Lepr Rev (2010) 81, 129–136 CASE REPORT A case of erythema nodosum leprosum reaction with diffuse alveolar haemorrhage, successfully treated by pulsed methylprednisolone NARONGWIT NAKWAN*, SUNISA THAICHINDA** & NARONGSAK NAKWAN*** *Department of Medicine, Hat Yai Medical Education Center, Hat Yai Hospital, Songkhla, Thailand **Division of dermatology, Department of Medicine, Hat Yai Medical Education Center, Hat Yai Hospital, Songkhla, Thailand ***Department of Pediatrics, Hat Yai Medical Education Center, Hat Yai Hospital, Songkhla, Thailand Accepted for publication 27 June 2010 Summary We present a case of erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL) reaction with diffuse alveolar haemorrhage (DAH) in a patient who completely recovered with pulsed methylprednisolone. Our case illustrates that ENL could be a predisposing factor for DAH and a high dose of corticosteroid plays an important role in successfully treating such a patient. Introduction Diffuse alveolar haemorrhage (DAH) is a life-threatening condition. Although a variety of etiologies could predispose to the development of DAH, erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL) has in the past never been described as a cause. ENL is a Type 2 reactional leprosy and commonly occurs in borderline leprosy and lepromatous leprosy.1 Because ENL is an immune-complex mediated disease, the clinical features could, therefore, be present in the involvement of multiple organ systems and include such diseases as polyarthritis, myositis, neuritis, iridocyclitis and lymphadenitis.2–3 In this report we present a case of ENL with DAH which was successfully treated by pulsed methyprednisolone. Correspondence to: Narongwit Nakwan, M.D, Department of Medicine, Hat Yai Medical Education Center, Hat Yai Hospital, Songkhla, Thailand 90110 (Tel: þ66 8 1898 4566; Fax: þ66 7 4411 333; e-mail: [email protected]) 0305-7518/10/064053+08 $1.00 q Lepra 129 130 N. Nakwan et al. Case Report An 18 year old man was admitted with complaints of multiple enlarged painful subcutaneous nodules for the past month, a low grade fever, a loss of 6 kg of body weight during the preceding 3 months and arthralgia. The patient had no known exposure to tuberculosis and was not taking any drugs prior to visiting our hospital. On examination the patient had a low grade fever, multiple cervical lymphadenopathy, mild hepatosplenomegaly and polyarthritis Figure 1. Multiple erythematous dermal and subcutaneous nodules distributed over (A) face, (B) upper trunk. Erythema nodosum leprosum with diffuse alveolar haemorrhage 131 Table 1. Monitoring of haematologic and clinical chemistry laboratory values during admission 24 hours later 72 hours later 5 days later Presented with Finished Admission acute dyspnea Started pulse pulse 2 weeks Period of treatment date and haemoptysis methyprednisolone methyprednisolone later Haemoglobin (g/dL) 13·3 8·8 8·8 13 12 Hematocrit (%) 40 25·9 25·9 38 37 Total WBC count 12 000 19 300 19 300 12 500 11 000 ( £ 109/L) Neutrophils (%) 70 68 90 75 70 Lymphocytes (%) 25 22 6 23 25 Monocytes (%) 3 6 2 3 2 Eosinophils (%) 2 4 2 2 3 Platelet counts ( £ 109/L) 196,000 288,000 288,000 275,000 188,000 Prothrombin time 14 13 13·5 (10·5–13·5 sec) International normalize 1·14 1·12 1·13 ratio (1–1·3) Partial thromboplastin time 30 28 27·5 (22·8–31 sec) SGPT (10–30 IU/L) 10 28 25 SGOT (9–43 IU/L) 12 40 38 Alkaline phosphatase 110 112 102 (35–110 IU/L) Total serum bilirubin (mg/dL) 0·7 0·6 0·8 Blood urea nitrogen (mg/dL) 10 14 12 Creatinine (mg/dL) 0·8 1·0 0·9 Erythrocyte sedimentation 140 rate (mm/hr) in his knees, elbows, wrists and fingers. He had multiple discrete symmetrical, ill-defined, painful erythematous dermal and subcutaneous nodules on top of crusted ulcers and infiltrative erythematous plaque over his face, upper trunk and limbs (Figure 1). There was no thickening of the peripheral nerves, sensory loss or muscular weakness. A skin biopsy was performed from the right forearm lesions. Serial haematology and clinical chemistry were performed (Table 1). The urine analysis was negative. The abdominal ultrasonography revealed mild hepatosplenomegaly and the chest radiography showed normal findings. At 24 hours after admission, the patient suddenly developed massive haemoptysis with severe hypoxia, along with a new-onset anemia (hemoglobin level, 8·8 g/dL) compared to the hospital admission value of 13·3 g/dL (Table 1). A physical examination of the chest revealed bilateral late, fine, inspiratory crackles in the lower lung fields. The chest radiography revealed bilaterally diffuse alveolar opacities (Figure 2A). The patient needed intubation and mechanical ventilation. The provisional diagnosis was suggestive of alveolar pulmonary haemorrhage. Approximately 72 hours later, the patient continued to have worsening haemoptysis and a repeat chest radiography showed progressive bilateral alveolar infiltrations. There was no growth of pathogenic bacteria or evidence of fungal infection in the blood and bronchial fluid. The Ziehl-Neelsen acid-fast stains on the sputum also were negative. The test results for the immunological tests are shown in Table 2. 132 N. Nakwan et al. A skin biopsy revealed diffuse nodular infiltration of numerous foamy histiocytes, lympho-histiocytes and giant cells with clumps of fragment bacilli (globi) within the few foamy cells, including predominant polymorphic neutrophil infiltration throughout the dermis (Figures 3A and 3B). Scanty granular bacilli were found by Wade-Fite staining and these findings were compatible with erythema nodosum leprosum (Figure 4). Figure 2. (A) Chest radiographs while clinical symptoms suspected DAH. (B) 3 days after administration of pulsed methylprednisolone. Erythema nodosum leprosum with diffuse alveolar haemorrhage 133 Table 2. Results of immunologic tests on admission Test Result Anti-HIV antibody Negative Anti-HCV antibody Negative HBs Ag Negative Anti-streptolysin-O Negative Antinuclear antibody Negative Anti-dsDNA antibody Negative Rheumatiod factor Negative Antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody Negative Leptospira antibody Negative Serum C3 (75–135 mg/dL) 98 Serum C4 (10–40 mg/mL) 24 C-reactive protein (4–6 mg/L) 24·6 The slit skin smear was not performed. The patient was conclusively diagnosed with ENL with diffuse alveolar haemorrhage. Thereafter, he was administered 1 gm of intravenous methylprednisolone daily for 3 days. The patient’s pulmonary symptoms improved dramatically after the second dose of pulse corticosteroids. The repeated chest radiography after 3 days of pulse therapy showed the resolution of opacities (Figure 2B). As a result, the corticosteroid was switched to oral prednisolone (1 mg/kg/day) combined with multibacillary multi-drug therapy (MB-MDT) which consisted of a monthly dose of 600 mg rifampicin and 300 mg clofazimine and a daily dose of 100 mg dapsone and 50 mg clofazimine for 1 year. The prednisolone was tapered off, 5–10 mg every 4 weeks over 6 months. There was no growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in his blood or sputum after 3 months of incubation. The patient completed a follow-up check, which showed a clearance of all symptoms and that he was clinically well. The follow-up slit skin smears from routine sites showed negative findings. Discussion This report describes a highly unusual event of diffuse alveolar haemorrhage (DAH) developing in association with erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL). Many causes of DAH have been described to have pulmonary capillaritis that include systemic vasculitis, collagen vascular diseases, antiphospholipid syndrome, Gooodpasture’s syndrome and Behc¸et’s syndrome,4 whereas ENL has not been previously described as a cause. Because DAH has a variety of pathogenic mechanisms, establishing the diagnosis should be confirmed by the histopathology of samples obtained by bronchoscope or of bronchoalveolar larvage.4 Unfortunately, we did not have a bronchoscope available, thus the diagnosis of DAH in our patient is purely clinical and not proven. In our case, we needed to exclude a possible cause of DAH, particularly systemic vasculitis such as SLE, small vessel vasculitis, antiphospholipid syndrome, and other autoimmune disease including infectious diseases. However, our case was absence of the characteristic clinical features of such diseases as well as the negative specific autoantibodies including antinuclear antibody, antineutrophilic cytoplasmic 134 N. Nakwan et al. Figure 3. (A) Histological appearance of the whole dermis (Haematoxylin and eosin; original magnification £ 10). (B) The infiltration was composed of numerous foamy histiocytes with globi and numerous neutrophils infiltration (Haematoxylin and eosin; original magnification £ 100). antibody, anti-dsDNA, rheumatoid factor and anti-cardiolipin, which are of benefit in making the diagnosis.4 We were unable to investigate any antibodies, including anti-glomerular basement membrane, because of the limitations in our ability. The skin lesions, skin smear and pathological features are useful for the diagnosis of leprosy, classifying the type and deciding on the appropriate treatment. Unfortunately, we did not perform a slit skin smear on our patient because of the life-threatening situation. Erythema nodosum leprosum with diffuse alveolar haemorrhage 135 Figure 4. Modified Ziehl-Neelsen acid fast stain was revealed scanty granular pink hue of mycobacterial debris. (Original magnification £ 40). Therefore, ENL was consequently diagnosed on the basis of the clinical features and the pathological findings of the skin biopsy. Even though the evidence of a skin smear and
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