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Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN), a rare, multisystem inflammatory condition occurring primarily in middle-aged adults, appears even more rarely in children (< 5% of total cases). Aggressive intervention with systemic corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents appears to alter the disease course.
Two studies of childhood PAN have recently been published. The first is a case report of a 33-month-old who presented with fever, a necrotic skin lesion, an oral ulceration, and cervical lymphadenopathy. Initial biopsy samples were nonspecific, but following bowel perforation and development of a new ulceration, further biopsies revealed necrotizing vasculitis involving small- and medium-sized vessels in the mid-dermis and subcutaneous fat. Treatment in…