PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lisa Willcocks
AU  - Gladstone Chelliah
AU  - Rachel Brown
AU  - Paul Bacon
TI  - Cutaneous vasculitis - a case for laparotomy?
DP  - 2003 Jul 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - 1621--1623
VI  - 30
IP  - 7
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/30/7/1621.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/30/7/1621.full
SO  - J Rheumatol2003 Jul 01; 30
AB  - The diagnosis of gut vasculitis infers a poor prognosis necessitating aggressive therapy. We describe a case with predominant features of a skin-limited vasculitis but atypical debilitating abdominal symptoms. Although endoscopic biopsies were unremarkable, full thickness biopsy taken at laparotomy revealed a necrotizing vasculitis. After treatment with cyclophosphamide, the previously resistant abdominal symptoms resolved. This case illustrates the need to tailor treatment to disease severity, rather than determine it by the type of vasculitis with which the patient has been labelled. In view of the importance of gastrointestinal involvement to therapy decisions, laparotomy may be necessary to establish the presence of vasculitis.