Disseminated Mycobacterium abscessus infection with osteoarticular manifestations as an important differential diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis: A case report and literature review.
Chihaya WatanabeYusuke YoshidaGenki KidoguchiHiroki KitagawaTakeshi ShojiNaoki NakamotoNaoya OkaTomohiro SugimotoSho MokudaShintaro HirataPublished in: Modern rheumatology case reports (2023)
This case report describes a 52-year-old immunocompromised man diagnosed with disseminated Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABC) infection. The patient had a history of malignant lymphoma and presented with fever and polyarthritis that lasted 3 weeks. Upon initial evaluation, blood and synovial fluid cultures from the swollen joints were negative. Reactive arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis was suspected as the cause of inflammatory synovitis in multiple joints. Administration of prednisolone followed by an interleukin-6 inhibitor improved the fever, but polyarthritis persisted, and destruction of the left hip joint was observed. Two months later, Mycobacterium abscessus was detected in a blood culture and right shoulder joint synovium, leading to a final diagnosis of disseminated MABC infection. The joint symptoms resolved with combined antimicrobial therapy using amikacin, azithromycin, and imipenem/cilastatin. To date, 12 cases of disseminated MABC infection with osteoarticular manifestations have been reported. A total of 13 cases, including the present case, were reviewed. Seven patients had bone involvements, five had joint involvement, and the remaining one had bursa involvement. All the cases with joint involvement, except for our case, presented with monoarthritis. MABC infection is diagnosed based on the demonstration of MABC itself. Clinicians should keep disseminated MABC infection in mind as a possible cause of persistent arthritis. As demonstrated in our case, multiple replicate cultures of blood or specimens from the affected sites may be needed to detect it.
Keyphrases
- rheumatoid arthritis
- case report
- mycobacterium tuberculosis
- oxidative stress
- stem cells
- staphylococcus aureus
- end stage renal disease
- palliative care
- ejection fraction
- disease activity
- postmenopausal women
- systemic sclerosis
- systemic lupus erythematosus
- newly diagnosed
- diffuse large b cell lymphoma
- chronic kidney disease
- depressive symptoms
- smoking cessation
- prognostic factors
- bone loss
- idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
- replacement therapy