Internal Medicine
Online ISSN : 1349-7235
Print ISSN : 0918-2918
ISSN-L : 0918-2918
CASE REPORTS
Severe Obliterative Bronchitis Associated with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome
Tetsukan WooHaruhiro SaitoYasushi YamakawaShigeru KomatsuSumi OnumaKoji OkudelaAkinori NozawaMichiko AiharaZenro IkezawaYoshiaki Ishigatsubo
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JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2011 Volume 50 Issue 22 Pages 2823-2827

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Abstract

We report a case of Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) in which the patient had been diagnosed with severe obliterative bronchitis. A 29-year-old woman was admitted with a high fever and a widespread vesicular rash. She was diagnosed with SJS and betamethasone administration was started. After one month, her vesicular skin rash improved; however, she developed respiratory failure and was assisted with mechanical ventilation. Computed tomography of the chest demonstrated a hyperlucent lung with narrowing of the peripheral vessels. Bronchoscopy revealed an occlusion of the bronchus when the patient exhaled. The flow-volume curve revealed a severe obstructive pattern. The patient was diagnosed with obliterative bronchitis following SJS. She was treated with a bronchodilator and steroids, but could not breathe adequately without the ventilator. During the following year, her PaCO2 increased to 100 torr and her heart function also continued to worsen. Despite intensive treatment, she died one year and seven months after the onset of SJS. In SJS and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) patients, chronic pulmonary complications are rare, but there is no effective therapy for obliterative bronchitis following SJS/TEN. Therefore, early awareness of this condition is needed and lung transplantation must be considered at an early stage of this disease.

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© 2011 by The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine
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