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

Massive diffuse alveolar haemorrhage (DAH) is an unusual, frequently life threatening and still treatable complication of Wegener’s granulomatosis (WG) associated with mortality in more than 66% of cases. DAH is a syndrome that can be a manifestation of variety of disorders. WG, a multisystem necrotising granulomatous vasculitis should always be considered as a possible etiological factor in these patients with or without involvement of other systems, as an early diagnosis and aggressive management with cytotoxic drugs offer best chances of survival in these patients. We report a rare case of 45-year-old woman who presented with massive hemoptysis in accident and emergency department and subsequently diagnosed as WG, and discuss the differential diagnosis and review the literature of this rare complication of WG. Approximately 41 cases have been reported so far of this rare complication.