Pulmonary associations in familial Mediterranean fever.

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is a hereditary periodic fever syndrome expressed by acute episodes of fever and painful manifestations. In this report, the pulmonary manifestations of FMF are reviewed, the most prominent of which are chest attacks due to pleuritis. Nephropathic amyloidosis of the AA type, which complicates FMF in most untreated patients, may progress to affect other organs, including the lungs, but this rarely produces noticeable symptoms. The common association between FMF and vasculitis makes pulmonary hemorrhage, infarction, or infiltrates highly possible. These complications, however, have been reported only rarely. Asthma was found to occur less often than expected in patients with FMF, but methodologic faults make this finding doubtful. Finally, the occurrence of mesothelioma in five patients with FMF who were not exposed to asbestos suggests a role for recurrent FMF serositis in the pathogenesis of this malignancy.