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CASE REPORT article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Respiratory Pharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1529621
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Pleural effusion is a common disease in respiratory medicine, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the causes of pleural effusion. Felty's syndrome is a special manifestation of RA. We report a case of Felty's syndrome with pleural effusion as the initial symptom and the subsequent diagnosis and treatment of the patient's secondary pyothorax.We report the case of a 78-year-old male who was admitted to the hospital after more than one year of discovered pleural effusion. After consultation with the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, and considering the patient's symptoms of joint deformity and swelling pain, combined with decreased white blood cells, decreased platelets, and splenomegaly, the patient was diagnosed with RA Felty's syndrome. The patient was treated with iguratimod and methylprednisolone. Three months later, the patient was diagnosed as Escherichia coli empyema. The patient was treated with intravenous and sensitive anti-infection therapy combined with medical thoracoscopy, achieving good therapeutic effects.Felty's syndrome is a rare manifestation of RA. Pleural effusion may be the initial manifestation of RA, and secondary infections are prone to occur during the treatment of RA and Felty’s syndrome. The combination of sensitive antibiotics and medical thoracoscopy can effectively treat secondary pyothorax.
Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, Felty's Syndrome, Pleural Effusion, Pyothorax, Escherichia coli, Medical thoracoscopy
Received: 17 Nov 2024; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Wang, Liu, Yang and Su. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yibo Yang, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, 201318, China
Yiliang Su, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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