[Allergic granulomatous angiitis].

Allergic granulomatous angiitis (AGA) is a rare disease, which varies in clinical manifestation. The clinical course includes three stages. In the first stage most of the patients show symptoms of respiratory disease, 82 per cent of the patients has asthma and 88 per cent chronic rhinitis. In the second stage there is blood eosinophilia and in the last stage involvement of multiple organs. The etiology is not yet clear. Since 1982 four cases of AGA have been encountered in PUMC Hospital, but they were all diagnosed after 1988. All were male and aged 36-54 years. Two of them had asthma history and three enlargement of liver and proteinuria, ECG showed heart block in two, all four had neuromuscular and cutaneous involvement and elevated blood eosinophil with absolute number ranging from 1254 to 8104/mm3. Biopsy from different sites showed panangiitis associated with eosinophil infiltration and/or granulomatosis formation. All were sensitive to prednisone therapy with or without CTX after treatment the absolute eosinophil count in the four patients was less than 1000/mm3 and the symptoms alleviated.