Churg-Strauss syndrome: Report of 3 cases

Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS) is a vasculitis of medium to small sized vessels. Diagnosis is mainly clinical with fi ndings of asthma, eosinophilia, rhinosinusitis and signs of vasculitis in major organs. This is a rare syndrome of unknown etiology, affecting both genders and all age groups. Outcome and long-term survival are usually good with steroids alone or in combination with immunosuppressive agents. The syndrome has a low mortality rate compared with other systemic vasculitides. We report three patients with CSS from Ardabil, who presented with asthma, pansinusitis, peripheral eosinophilia, peripheral neuropathy, cutaneous eosinophilic vasculitis. The diagnosis of CSS was made by the diagnostic criteria of American College of Rheumatology (ACR). CSS is typically suspected in patients whose asthma is poorly controlled on moderate doses of inhaled glucocorticoids. Prolonged treatment of asthma with glucocorticoid therapy may partially or totally suppress the usual clinical signs of untreated CSS. The disease may therefore not become evident until glucocorticoids are reduced or stopped.