Microscopic polyangiitis with sexual and reproductive system involvement: first description of a case

Excerpt

Microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) is a rare systemic vasculitis with an incidence of about 1–3/100,000/year [1]. MPA is defined as a necrotizing vasculitis, with few or no immune deposits, primarily affecting small vessels including capillaries, venules or arterioles [2]. MPA mainly affects kidneys and lungs, nevertheless cutaneous vasculitis, musculoskeletal symptoms, gastrointestinal involvement and peripheral neuropathy also occur [3]. Circulating antineutrophil cytoplasm antibodies (ANCA) are present in about 74.5% of patients with MPA, mainly perinuclear ANCA with specificity for myeloperoxidase (p-ANCA) [4], more rarely, in about 40% of the cases, cytoplasmic ANCA with specificity to proteinase-3 (c-ANCA) are present [5]. Depending on the extent of systemic vascular involvement, clinical findings can be quite variable; nevertheless, sexual and reproductive system involvement in patients with MPA has not previously been reported. …