Massive alveolar haemorrhage: a rare life threatening complication of Wegener’s granulomatosis—report of a rare case

Wegener’s granulomatosis (WG) is a multisystem necrotising granulomatous vasculitis affecting small vessels. Diffuse alveolar haemorrhage (DAH) is its rare fatal complication which sometimes can also be the earliest manifestation of this disease and prompt accurate diagnosis with immediate aggressive treatment with cyclophosphamide is essential to improve outcome. Approximately 41 cases have been reported so far of this rare complication (1). We report a similar case of DAH who was later found to be positive for c-antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (c-ANCA) and had evidence of pansinusitis and therefore diagnosed as WG and treated aggressively with pulse steroids and cyclophosphamide