An exceptional cause of hemoptysis in the elderly patient : IgA vasculitis

We describe here the case of a 73-year-old woman who presented a recurrent macular rash, acute respiratory distress, and hemoptysis. Chest CT scan showed diffuse ground-glass opacities that were suggestive of alveolar hemorrhage. With the development of severe acute kidney injury and nephrotic-range proteinuria (creatininemia 2.6 from 1.9mg/dL with overt proteinuria 34 from 2.1g/g creat), a kidney-lung syndrome was evoked. Skin biopsy revealed leukocytoclastic vasculitis with IgA deposits. Blood tests showed an increased IgA level. Those findings were consistent with a rare form of IgA vasculitis (formerly Henoch-Schonlein syndrome), the originality of the case lying in the occurrence of a kidney-lung syndrome in an elderly patient.