Open AccessA case of post-COVID-19 fibrosis mimicking Thoracic Manifestation of Ankylosing Spondylitis.
Author(s) -
Emrah Doğan,
Sabri Serhan Olcay,
Tuba Çınar Olcay,
Utku Tapan,
Özge Oral Tapan,
Fatih Alaşan
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
acta medica lituanica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2029-4174
pISSN - 1392-0138
DOI - 10.15388/amed.2021.29.1.10
Subject(s) - ankylosing spondylitis , medicine , covid-19 , pneumonia , spondylitis , fibrosis , lung , disease , radiology , dermatology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
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.