Adult-onset Still's disease: a report of 28 cases and review of the literature

What lessons can we learn? Clinical and epidemiological retrospective analysis of 267 patients with urticaria in a Brazilian tertiary center

BACKGROUND

There are few epidemiological studies of urticaria, published in the indexed literature (PubMed/Medline).

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological and clinical data among patients with urticaria/angioedema attending a reference clinic in Brazil.

METHODS

Two hundred sixty-seven patients were evaluated retrospectively considering demographic data, time course of the disease, triggering symptoms, the presence of angioedema, complementary laboratory tests including total blood count, reactive-C protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, IgE serum levels, and other, as necessary.

RESULTS

The most commonly diagnosed type of urticaria was chronic spontaneous urticaria (56.93%). Angioedema was associated with chronic urticaria in 108 patients (40.08%).

STUDY LIMITATIONS

Unicentered and retrospective.

CONCLUSION

Some relevant findings in this study are the observation of a female prevalence of cases (4-females: 1-man), a result more elevated than demonstrated in previous studies in Europe and Asia, the median age was 43-years old and the delay of time between the diagnosis of urticaria and the admission for treatment in a specialized center was approximately 2-years. Other multicenter studies can better establish these differences in Brazilian patients.

Atypical adult-onset Still’s disease with an initial and sole manifestation of liver injury: A case report and review of literature

BACKGROUND

Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) typically presents with a high spiking fever, polyarthritis, transient maculopapular rash, neutrophilic leukocytosis, and hepatosplenomegaly. It has a wide spectrum of clinical symptoms ranging from mild to severe, with extensive involvement of almost every organ. Although liver involvement in the form of increased hepatic enzymes and bilirubin is common, no AOSD case with liver involvement as the initial manifestation of AOSD has been reported.

CASE SUMMARY

A 35-year-old woman presented to the hepatology department with progressively worsening jaundice for one week. Liver chemistry tests revealed a significantly increased liver enzymes and bilirubin level. Given that the clinical examination was unremarkable, liver biopsy was considered because the patient had a history of AOSD 6 years ago. Liver histopathology revealed that most hepatic lobules were still recognizable. Fusional necrosis was observed around most central veins. A few bridging necrotic zones were also found. Infiltration of multiple plasma cells were observed in the necrotic zone, and the reticular scaffold was still expanded. Additionally, no obvious fibrosis was observed in the portal area. Mild mixed inflammatory cell infiltration was noted in the interstitium of the portal area. Further examination was unremarkable except for a remarkably high level of ferritin. Collectively, a presumptive diagnosis of liver injury secondary to AOSD was made. The hepatic involvement responded well to glucocorticoid treatment.

CONCLUSION

This case highlights that hepatic involvement as an initial and sole manifestation could be a pattern of relapsed AOSD. The diagnosis of AOSD should be considered in the case of nonresolving liver injury after the exclusion of common etiologies for liver diseases. A liver biopsy can be useful for the differential diagnosis of liver injury associated with AOSD.

Adult-Onset Still's Disease: Still a Serious Health Problem (a Case Report and Literature Review)

Patient: Female, 53

Final Diagnosis: Adult-onset Still’s Disease

Symptoms: Abdominal pain • fever

Medication: —

Clinical Procedure: —

Specialty: Rheumatology

Adult Onset Still's Disease: A Review on Diagnostic Workup and Treatment Options

Adult onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a rare systemic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology and pathogenesis that presents in 5 to 10% of patients as fever of unknown origin (FUO) accompanied by systemic manifestations. We report an interesting case of a 33-year-old African-American male who presented with one-month duration of FUO along with skin rash, sore throat, and arthralgia. After extensive workup, potential differential diagnoses were ruled out and the patient was diagnosed with AOSD based on the Yamaguchi criteria. The case history, incidence, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, differential diagnoses, diagnostic workup, treatment modalities, and prognosis of AOSD are discussed in this case report.

A Case of Adult Onset Still's Disease Misdiagnosed as Septic Arthritis

We present a case of adult onset Still's disease (AOSD) that was misdiagnosed as septic arthritis of the shoulder and knee. A forty-nine-year-old woman was admitted for pain in the left knee. The patient's medical history showed that she had undergone arthroscopic irrigation twice and an open debridement under the diagnosis of septic shoulder at another hospital. The laboratory and joint fluid analysis findings led us to suspect septic knee. Arthroscopic irrigation and antibiotics treatment were performed. At five weeks after discharge, she presented with pain in the same joint, fever, and rash. The symptoms were consistent with Yamaguchi's criteria for AOSD. We started corticosteroid therapy, and clinical remission was achieved. In conclusion, we suggest that AOSD should be considered as a diagnosis of exclusion to avoid misdiagnosis with septic arthritis.

Adult-Onset Still's Disease: A Case Report

Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a rare clinical entity with unknown etiology, characterized by arthritis, fever, evanescent rash and other systemic presentations. This report described a 45-year-old male who presented with sore throat, fever, arthritis, evanescent rash, raised liver enzymes and hyperferritinemia. He was diagnosed to have AOSD based on Yamuguchi criteria after the exclusion of other potential diagnoses. The patient partially responded to combined celecoxib and prednisolone. He was also prescribed methotrexate and his symptoms improved.

Adult-onset Still's disease: how to make a diagnosis in an atypical case

Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a complicated multi-systemic inflammatory disease, the main features of which are high spiking fever, evanescent rash, polyarthralgia, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly and leukocytosis. The pathogenesis and etiology of AOSD are still unknown. We report a case of atypical AOSD presenting with only arthralgia, fever, lymphadenopathy, slightly elevated serum C-reactive protein and ferritin levels and a slightly elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate; these signs and symptoms did not fulfill the proposed diagnostic criteria of both Cush and Yamaguchi. After exclusion of other likely diagnoses, a diagnosis of atypical AOSD was made, and a low dose of corticosteroids was effective in resolving all of the patient's symptoms. More clinical practice and research are needed to determine pathogenesis and etiology of AOSD and to amend the diagnostic criteria to include such atypical cases.

Urticaria and dermographism in patients with adult-onset Still's disease

Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) patients typically present with arthralgia, fever, lymphadenopathy and a transient salmon maculopapular rash. Only approximately 25 cases of AOSD with urticaria were described in the literature. In this article, the authors report three additional cases of AOSD with urticarial and dermographic lesions who had a good clinical response to glucocorticoid and antihistamines. A review of the literature concerning this issue is also herein written.

Acute liver transplantation in a 41-year-old male patient presenting symptoms of adult-onset Still's disease

Adult-onset Still's disease is a rare systemic non-infectious inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology. It is characterized by high spiking fever, sore throat, arthralgia, transient maculopapular rash, hepatosplenomegaly, liver cytolysis, weight loss, leukocytosis, neutrophilia, lymphadenopathy, myopathia and polyserositis. Mild or moderate liver involvement is common but fulminate liver failure is a rare manifestation. We report a 41-year-old male with undiagnosed adult Still's disease who underwent liver transplantation due to acute fulminate liver failure. He died 6 months after the liver transplantation in a septic condition. To date, six patients with adult Still's disease-related liver failure have been reported who required liver transplantation. We emphasize that adult Still's disease should be considered in the differential diagnosis of fulminate liver failure, especially in young adults with fever of unknown aetiology or typical features in the history.

Evaluation of clinical measures and different criteria for diagnosis of adult-onset Still's disease in a Chinese population

OBJECTIVE

To determine the value of clinical measures in diagnosis of adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD), and to identify the optimal set of proposed classification criteria, in a Chinese population.

METHODS

A total of 70 patients with AOSD and 140 non-AOSD inpatients with fever were retrospectively identified at Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai, from January 2003 to December 2009. Clinical measures and 4 sets of diagnostic criteria (Yamaguchi, Calabro, Cush, and Reginato) were evaluated by sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative predictive value (PPV, NPV), and positive/negative likelihood ratio (PLR, NLR) for diagnosis of AOSD.

RESULTS

In our series, higher sensitivity included hyperpyrexia (temperature ≥ 39°C, 94.29%), arthralgia (80.0%), polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) ≥ 75% (84.29%), serum ferritin ≥ 2-fold the upper normal value (90.0%), negative antinuclear antibodies (85.29%), and rheumatoid factor (84.38%); while higher specificity included transient erythema (98.57%), sore throat (85.0%), leukocytes ≥ 15,000/mm(3) (87.86%), and PMN ≥ 85% (85.0%). Rash, arthralgia, and sore throat were found to have better sensitivity and specificity (PLR 3.29-4.86). Leukocytes ≥ 10,000/mm(3), PMN ≥ 80%, and serum ferritin ≥ 5-fold the upper normal limit were set as critical points. The Reginato criteria set had the highest specificity, 99.29%. The Yamaguchi set had the highest sensitivity, 78.57%, with a better accuracy of 87.14%.

CONCLUSION

The Yamaguchi diagnostic criteria had better accuracy in Chinese patients. Indicators such as rash, arthralgia, sore throat, leukocytes ≥ 10,000/mm(3), PMN ≥ 80%, and serum ferritin ≥ 5-fold the upper normal limit were helpful for diagnosis of AOSD. We recommend using these indicators in combination instead of alone.

Adult-onset Still disease: a rare disorder with a potentially fatal outcome

Purpose

The aim of this study was to assess the clinical and laboratory features of a cohort of Italian patients with adult-onset Still disease (AOSD) with particular attention on possible life-threatening complications.

Methods

The clinical charts of 41 consecutive Italian patients with AOSD referred to our rheumatological department over the last 10 years were retrospectively examined. Data regarding clinical manifestations, laboratory features and complications were collected and compared with those reported in literature.

Results

The most frequent manifestations were: fever (90.2%), arthralgias (80.4%), skin rash (75.6%), sore throat (53.6%), arthritis (51.2%), lymphadenopathy (48.7%), hepatosplenomegaly (41.4%), myalgia (21.9%), fatigue (12%), diarrhoea and vomiting (9.7%), pleural effusion (9.7%), pericardial effusion (4.8%) and abdominal pain (2.4%). In two patients whose cases are described in detail; the course of the disease was complicated by disseminated intravascular coagulopathy, in one patient with a fatal outcome. ESR, CRP and leucocyte count mean values were 69.41 mm/h, 69.05 mg/l and 18,798.5 cell/mm³ (neutrophils 84.64%), respectively. Serum ferritin levels were increased in 48.7% of patients while transaminases were elevated in 42.6% of patients (71% considering only patients in an active phase of disease).

Conclusion

The results of this study are in line with those reported for other cohorts of patients. Even if the prognosis of AOSD is considered favourable, the present study indicates that the disease is a troubling condition needing prompt intervention. Occasionally, AOSD may rapidly worsen with life-threatening events.

Persistent pruritic papules and plaques: a characteristic histopathologic presentation seen in a subset of patients with adult-onset and juvenile Still's disease

BACKGROUND

'Persistent pruritic papules and plaques' of Still's disease represents a recently described eruption seen in a subset of patients. Most cases reported in the literature to date have been associated with adult-onset Still's disease.

METHODS

We present the clinical and histopathologic examinations of three female patients ranging in age from 15 to 54 years.

RESULTS

Our three patients each presented with clinical findings consistent with Still's disease. The youngest patient suffered from the juvenile form of Still's disease (systemic-onset juvenile rheumatoid arthritis). Each patient had a persistent, pruritic eruption with histopathologic findings of dyskeratosis confined to the upper layers of the epidermis as well as a sparse superficial dermal infiltrate containing scattered neutrophils.

CONCLUSIONS

These cases confirm the characteristic clinical and histopathologic findings of 'persistent papules and plaques of Still's disease' and show the potential for this eruption in both the adult and juvenile age groups.