A CASE OF PERIARTERITIS NODOSA COMPLICATED WITH ULCERATIONS OF THE SMALL INTESTINE

Periarteritis nodosa is considered to be one of the collagen diseases and presents various clinical symptoms due to its invasion to general organs. Symptoms in the digestive tract, especially, are found at a relatively high rate, occasionally necessitating laparotomy. We have experienced a 51-year-old male patient with a chief complaint of upper abdominal pain, who was diagnosed preoperatively as having cholelithiasis. Moreover, laparotomy revealed that the patient had multiple ulceration of the small intestine and he was diagnosed as having periateritis nodosa from histologic findings. With regard to periarteritis nodosa in Japan, 42 patients, 28 male and 14 female, with an average age of 51.0, have undergone laparotomy. Four cases (9.5%) had been preoperatively diagnosed. As to the area showing lesions, 22 patients (52.4%), had a lesion in the small intestine, 9 (21.4%) in the stomach and 4 (9.5%) in the appendix vermiformis. Moreover, steroids had been preopeartively administred in 13 cases (31.0%). The disease period in these cases was longer than that of the non-admininistration group and mortality due to surgery tended to be a little lower.