Abstract
Extracutaneous involvement by the pyoderma gangrenosum disease process is unusual but does occur; patients with inflammatory colitis may be at higher risk (16).
Sterile neutrophilic infiltrates may develop in one or several organ systems: lungs,
eyes, heart (13), CNS (17), muscle (18), bone, liver, or spleen (19). The lung is most
commonly affected; in one series of 21 cases, 2 patients had fatal pulmonary involvement (20). Pulmonary symptoms include cough, dyspnea, or chest pain (16). Chest
radiography may show a consolidated, cavitary pneumonia (21), a unilateral opacity
(22), or multiple and bilateral nodules (23). Eye disease expressed as peripheral
ulcerative keratitis may lead to blindness if it goes unrecognized and untreated.
Patients complain of decreased visual acuity, eye pain, redness, and=or irritation
(24). Extracutaneous PG may precede but usually appears simultaneously with or
following the onset of skin lesions.