ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT A 36-years old woman started with productive cough, dyspnea, pleuritic pain and diaphoresis 5 weeks before first consultation. Although initially considered as a left basal pneumonic illness, the presence of bilateral interstitial infiltrates with peripheral macronodules and micronodules, mainly in the apexes, motivated an open pulmonary biopsy, which demonstrated necrobiotic nodules due to rheumatoid arthritis. After 19 months of following-up, she never had symptoms or activity of rheumatoid arthritis and the serologic markers were always negative. She had progressive improvement of symptoms and radiological pattern with fading of pulmonary nodules even without specific treatment.

KEYWORDS

Rheumatoid arthritis, necrobiotic nodules, rheumatoid nodules, rheumatoid lung.

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