Colonic sarcoidosis, infliximab, and tuberculosis: a cautionary tale

Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2004 Jul;10(4):438-40. doi: 10.1097/00054725-200407000-00018.

Abstract

The antitumor necrosis factor, infliximab, has been recently shown to be effective in refractory sarcoidosis including the intestinal form of this disease. We have tried this therapy in a 55-year-old woman under immunosuppressive therapy for longstanding sarcoidosis presenting with abdominal pain apparently caused by a colonic localization of the disease. The latter diagnosis was based, as recommended, on the presence of nonnecrotizing granulomas in mucosal biopsies, the presence of systemic disease, and the careful exclusion of other granulomatous diseases, including tuberculosis. After the first IV infusion (10 mg/kg BW), she quickly improved, but the wellbeing lasted approximately 4 weeks. She then received another dose of infliximab, but she soon developed low-grade fever and weakness and shortly succumbed of miliary tuberculosis. Likely, infliximab precipitated a pre-existing mycobacterial infection of the intestine. Given the likelihood of underdiagnosing intestinal tuberculosis--and the risks associated with infliximab treatment--this case suggests that this drug should be used with extreme caution, if at all, when a diagnosis of colonic sarcoidosis is suspected.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / adverse effects*
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / therapeutic use
  • Antirheumatic Agents / adverse effects*
  • Antirheumatic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Colonic Diseases / diagnosis*
  • Colonic Diseases / drug therapy*
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Diagnostic Errors
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Female
  • Granuloma / pathology
  • Humans
  • Infliximab
  • Middle Aged
  • Sarcoidosis / diagnosis*
  • Sarcoidosis / drug therapy*
  • Tuberculosis, Gastrointestinal / diagnosis*
  • Tuberculosis, Gastrointestinal / pathology*
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Antirheumatic Agents
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
  • Infliximab