Severe steroid responsive pneumonitis associated with pyoderma gangrenosum and ulcerative colitis.

Inflammatory bowel disease is associated with a variety of extraintestinal manifestations,' including bronchiectasis23 and chronic bronchitis.2 We report here a patient with quiescent ulcerative colitis who became critically ill with severe pneumonia. Despite intensive investigation, the likely nature of the pulmonary condition became only apparent when after eight weeks she developed pyoderma A gangrenosum. Both the pneumonia and the pyoderma responded promptly to high dose corticosteroid treatment only to relapse subsequently at the time of an intercurrent iliness. Reinstitution of high dose corticosteroid treatment again resulted in resolution of the lesions. Had we been aware that such pulmonary lesions may occur in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, we would have treated the patient more promptly with corticosteroids.