Clinical data analysis and chest radiographic features of Wegener's granulomatosis with pulmonary involvement / 南方医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To improve the diagnostic accuracy of Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) with pulmonary involvement by analyzing the clinical data and chest radiographic features.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical data and chest radiographic features of 43 WG cases with pulmonary involvement were retrospectively analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Clinically, the patients frequently presented with multi-system involvement, with the incidence of pulmonary involvement of 72.8%. The patients with WG presented with such symptoms in the respiratory system as coughing, expectoration, hemoptysis, and dyspnea. The radiographic manifestations varied among the cases. Nodules and cavitations in the lungs were the signs most frequently found, and patchy infiltration and bronchial narrowing were also observed, which often led to misdiagnosis of WG as other pulmonary diseases.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>WG often has multi-organ involvement, and the lung is one of the most commonly involved organs. The clinical symptoms and radiographic manifestations of WG have no specificity, and the disease can be easily misdiagnosed. Biopsy and ANCA assay can be important means for WG diagnosis.</p>