Takayasu's arteritis as the aetiology of unresolved fever in an adult patient with cystic fibrosis

Abstract

Vasculitis is an unusual complication of cystic fibrosis (CF), normally affecting patients with more severe lung disease. Typical presentation is with skin disease but other organ involvement has been reported. Systemic response to bacterial colonisation and immune complex deposition secondary to chronic airway inflammation is thought to be underlying mechanism of the disease. The authors describe a 28-year-old female Turkish patient with CF presented with fever and artralgias. The patient was known to have chronic Pseudomonas infection; therefore, a respiratory tract infection was assumed and the patient was treated with imipenem and amikacin for 14 days. Following through investigations of fever of unknown origin, Takayasu's arteritis was identified and the patient responded well to immunosuppression with corticosteroid.

Keywords:

• Takayasu's arteritis
• Cystic fibrosis
• FUO
• PET/CT
• vasculitis