Back Pain in a Patient withWegener’s Granulomatosis

Excerpt

To the Editor:

Wegener’s granulomatosis (WG) is a rare, systemic, necrotizing granulomatous inflammation with vasculitis, usually affecting the upper and lower respiratory tracts and kidneys^1,2. WG is commonly associated with nonspecific systemic signs such as fever, weight loss, arthralgia, and myalgia. Although most patients initially present with upper airway illness, articular involvement with, typically, arthritis is frequent during the clinical course³. Vertebral involvement is rare and is mainly due to granulomatous tissue in the dural space that can lead to neurologic symptoms^4-6.

We describe a patient with WG whose main complaint was severe back pain due to a large thoracic ...