Wegener Granulomatosis: Case Report and Brief Literature Review

Wegener granulomatosis (WG) is an uncommon condition characterized by necrotizing granuloma-tosis of the upper and lower respiratory tract and glomerulonephritis. We describe a case of a 42-year-old white man with symptoms of pansinusitis who gradually developed more symptoms of WG. This case emphasizes early diagnosis and treatment to avoid further complications. Case Report The patient was a 42-year-old white man with a history of sinusitis for almost 2 years. He was treated with different antibiotics as an outpatient without any improvement. He developed a lung mass on chest radiograph, so he was referred to the surgical service for biopsy. On the day of the planned biopsy, the patient was febrile with an elevated white blood cell count (WBC). He also had severe headache; therefore, biopsy was can-celed and the patient was transferred to the Family Practice team. At admission, his temperature was 98.8°F, pulse was 90 beats/min, respiratory rate was 20 breaths/ min, blood pressure was 150/90 mm Hg, and his weight was 217 pounds. He was not in severe dis-tress. Tympanic membranes were clear with posi-tive light reflexes. His throat was erythematous and without other lesions. His neck was supple with no meningeal signs. His lungs were clear to ausculta-tion bilaterally. His abdomen was neither tender nor distended. There was no edema, cyanosis, or clubbing of his extremities. Computerized tomog-raphy (CT) of his sinuses showed mucosal thicken-ing in all sinuses, including sphenoid, frontal, eth-moidal, and maxillary (Fig. 1). Laboratory studie