Acta Medica Lituanica (Mar 2022)

A case of post-COVID-19 fibrosis mimicking Thoracic Manifestation of Ankylosing Spondylitis.

  • Emrah Doğan,
  • Sabri Serhan Olcay,
  • Tuba Çınar Olcay,
  • Utku Tapan,
  • Ozge Oral Tapan,
  • Fatih Alaşan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.15388/Amed.2021.29.1.10
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 29, no. 1

Abstract

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The most common thoracic manifestation form of ankylosing spondylitis is apical fibrocystic changes. It is also known as apical fibrobullous disease (AFBD). The patient was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis before 9 years. He suffered COVID-19 infection and passed an intensive care period. However, post-covid fibrosis (PCF) atypically affected dominantly apical zones. If we had no sequential CT evaluations, our case could be easily confused with AFBD. On CT taken before COVID-19, the lung apex was normal. Thus, it was confirmed that there was no rheumatologic thoracic manifestation in the patient before suffering from COVID-19 pneumonia. PCF created similar changes as AFBD. Our case is the first reported paper on this topic.

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