ABSTRACT
Hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome (HUVS) is a rare type III hypersensitivity disorder characterized by urticarial vasculitis and prolonged hypocomplementemia. Individuals with HUVS may also have joint involvement, pulmonary manifestations, ocular disease, kidney inflammation, or any other form of organ involvement. Hypocomplementemia, the presence of C1q antibody in the serum, and urticarial vasculitis are the keys to the diagnosis of HUVS. It has been reported to accompany certain infections such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, infectious mononucleosis, and coxsackie group A. However, it has never been reported to be linked to histoplasmosis in the literature. To the best of our knowledge, we report the first case of HUVS presenting concurrently with pulmonary histoplasmosis.
Subject(s)
Complement System Proteins/deficiency , Histoplasmosis/diagnosis , Lung Diseases, Fungal/diagnosis , Urticaria/diagnosis , Vasculitis/diagnosis , Histoplasmosis/complications , Humans , Lung/pathology , Lung Diseases, Fungal/complications , Male , Middle Aged , Syndrome , Tomography, X-Ray Computed , Urticaria/complications , Urticaria/pathology , Vasculitis/complications , Vasculitis/pathologyABSTRACT
Cardiac involvement is fairly common in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It may involve all layers of the heart and coronary arteries as well as the heart valves. We report an extremely rare presentation of valvulitis and valvular dysfunction associated with systemic lupus erythematosus. This is the first case of lupus valvulitis which required three mechanical prosthetic valve replacements with disease recurrence leading to a fatal outcome. This is, in our point of view, the consequence of aggressive natural history of the disease and perhaps late diagnosis and treatment of underlying SLE which was unsuccessful.
