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Letter
Alopecia in Wegener's granulomatosis
  1. C Hidalgo-Tenorio,
  2. J M Sabio,
  3. J Jiménez-Alonso
  1. Service of Internal Medicine, University Hospital “Virgen de las Nieves”, Granada, Spain
  1. Correspondence to:
    Dr J Jiménez-Alonso, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Avda de las Fuerzas Armas, No 2, Granada, 18014 Spain;
    jualso{at}hvn.sas.cica.es

https://doi.org/10.1136/ard.61.7.654

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    Alopecia is not a distinctive clinical sign in Wegener's granulomatosis and, as far as we know, to date no cases have been published describing this phenomenon.

    CASE REPORT

    We present the case of a 54 year old woman diagnosed with Wegener's granulomatosis, who in the first stage of her disease had alopecia and improved after treatment with cyclophosphamide and prednisone.

    Nine months before her admission to our service, she had had paraesthesias, and leg pain and dysfunction. Electromyography showed some signs of sensorimotor polyneuropathy. She was given prednisone for 10 days (90 mg/day) and improved partially. Five months later, she started coughing up haemoptysic sputum, and had arthralgias in both hands, constitutional symptoms, and intense and diffuse hair loss (traction positive). Her temperature was 36.5°C, blood pressure 130/60 mm Hg, respirations 16, pulse 80 beats/min, and her weight was 44 kg.

    Physical examination showed 2 cm abdomen hepatomegaly and leg …

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