Imaging of IgG4-Related Disease in the Head and Neck: A Systematic Review, Case Series, and Pathophysiology Update

When inflammation is not just inflammation-A review of systemic diseases of the nose and sinuses part 1: IgG4-related disease and sarcoidosis

BACKGROUND

Chronic rhinosinusitis is a very common condition. IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) and sarcoidosis are systemic diseases which can contribute to the development of chronic rhinosinusitis in select patients.

OBJECTIVE

Characterize the presenting features, diagnostic criteria, workup, and management of sinonasal IgG4-RD and sarcoidosis as they are encountered in otolaryngology clinics.

METHODS

Full length manuscripts published 2000 or later were reviewed. A separate search was conducted for each disease. Pertinent clinical features related to sinonasal manifestations of IgG4-RD and sarcoidosis were collected and reported in this review.

RESULTS

404 references were discovered during literature review process. In total, 42 references for IgG4-RD and 34 references for sarcoidosis were included in this review.

CONCLUSION

IgG4-RD and sarcoidosis are autoimmune inflammatory conditions that can affect many systems of the body. For both disease entities, sinonasal disease is a less common presentation which can lead to delayed diagnosis. Sinonasal IgG4-RD commonly presents in the setting of multisystem disease. All with other clinical features, biopsy plays a key role in the diagnosis for both diseases. Treatment for IgG4-RD consists primarily of steroids and rituximab which can lead to excellent and durable remission. A variety of immunosuppressive agents are used in the management of sarcoidosis. Surgery for IgG4-RD is primarily utilized for tissue biopsy, although resection or debulking may be considered. For sarcoidosis, surgery can be used for tissue biopsy and functional sinus surgery can offer symptomatic relief in many patients.

Systemic Involvement in Immunoglobulin G4-Related Ophthalmic Disease

BACKGROUND

Immunoglobulin G4-related ophthalmic disease (IgG4-ROD) poses clinical challenges due to its heterogeneous ocular and systemic manifestations. We aim to report the systemic involvement and the clinical, serological and radiological associations of a cohort of Chinese patients.

METHODS

A territory-wide, biopsy-proven, Chinese cohort. A retrospective, masked chart review of medical records, orbital images, and histopathology reports.

RESULTS

A total of 122 (65 male) patients with a follow-up of 81 ± 49 (24 to 84) months were reviewed. Ninety (74%) patients presented bilaterally. Subacute upper eyelid swelling was the commonest presentation (82/122, 67%). During follow-up, 91/122 patients (75%) underwent extra-orbital imaging including computer tomography (692 films), ultrasonography (182 films), magnetic resonance imaging (76 films) and whole body FDG-PET scan (33 films). Eighty-six (95%) of these 91 patients had extra-orbital involvement radiologically (2.7 ± 1.6 regions, range: 0 to 9). Lymph node was the most prevalent (N = 60,66%), followed by salivary gland (N = 51,56%), lung (N = 49,54%), kidney (N = 22, 24%), hepatobiliary tree (N = 18, 20%) and pancreas (N = 17, 19%). Other organs include thyroid, aorta, meninges/brain and skin. Twenty-eight (23%) patients had allergic diseases (19 asthma, 16 allergic rhinitis, and 6 eczemas). Fifty-seven (48%) patients had paranasal sinusitis. Serum eosinophilia was associated with a higher number (3.24 versus 2.52, P = 0.0304) of organ involvement. Patients with deep organ involvement was associated with a higher age of IgG4-ROD onset (70 ± 12 versus 56 ± 13, P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

95% of the patients who underwent systemic imaging in our cohort had systemic organ involvement. An early physicians' assessment and radiological imaging are recommended after the diagnosis of IgG4-ROD.

IgG4-related disease of the mastoid: a rare presentation of a novel diagnosis

IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an inflammatory condition characterised by infiltration of tissue by IgG4-positive plasma cells. This is the seventh reported case of IgG4-RD affecting the mastoid and informs clinicians in diagnosing patients affected by this rare condition.A woman in her 20s presented with unilateral otalgia, hearing loss and vertigo. She deteriorated despite antibiotic therapy and cross-sectional imaging revealed a destructive extra-axial lesion of the mastoid cells. Biopsy confirmed a diagnosis of IgG4-RD. She was successfully treated with prednisolone and azathioprine.Inflammatory conditions should be considered in patients with persistent middle ear symptoms after infection and malignancy are excluded. Delays in diagnosis can lead to irreversible mass effects and may occur as current diagnostic criteria exclude mastoid-specific features.IgG4-RD remains a rare diagnosis. To avoid significant effects on a patients' quality of life, prompt multidisciplinary treatment is vital alongside development of diagnostic criteria specific to otolaryngology.

Idiopathic multicentric castleman's disease mimicking immunoglobulin G4-related disease responding well to Bortezomib: a case report

BACKGROUND

Castleman's disease (CD) is a rare disease that has clinical and pathological similarities to lymphoma and is characterized by a high frequency of associated immunological dysfunction. ImmunoglobulinG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a collection of systemic disorders that affect numerous organs and are also referred to as IgG4-associated sclerosing diseases. CD and IgG4-RD are difficult to separate because they may manifest similar commin clinical features.

CASE PRESENTATION

This case describes a 53-year-old female who, during routine medical check-up, exhibited a progressive increase in serum globulin levels and a simultaneous worsening of anemia symptoms, raising concern for a clonal plasma cell disease such as myeloma. However, bone marrow punctures did not reveal any abnormal plasma cells. Also, serum and urine immunofixation electrophoresis demonstrated no abnormal monoclonal protein bands. In addition, several laboratory findings excluded chronic liver disease, chronic infections caused by bacteria or viruses. Later, we found elevated serum IgG4 levels (10,700 mg/L), and identified multiple enlarged lymph nodes throughout the patient's body. Axillary lymph node aspiration revealed no abnormal lymphocytes, ruling out the possibility of lymphoma. Pathological morphology of the axillary lymph revealed a large number of plasma cells in the lymphatic follicles. In addition, there was a reduction in lymphatic follicle size and apoptosis of the germinal centres. Immunohistochemistry revealed IgG4+/IgG + in > 40% of cells, and more than 100 IgG4 + cells per high powered field (HPF) of specimen. As of now, finding strongly suggested IgG4-RD. This patient was treated with glucocorticoids and various immunosuppressive drugs, such as prednisone, cyclosporine, methotrexate, cyclophosphamide, mycophenolate mofetil, azathioprine and hydroxychloroquine. Unfortunately, the patient did not recover. Ultimately, idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD) was diagnosed in relation to the patient's clinical presentation and laboratory tests, and after combination chemotherapy (VCD: Bortezomib, Cyclophosphamide and Dexamethasone), durable remission was achieved without serious adverse effects. During the follow-up period of one year and ten months, the patient remained stable.

CONCLUSION

The diagnosis of Castleman must be distinguished from other disorders such as IgG4-RD, malignant lymphoma, reactive hyperplasia of various lymph nodes (mostly caused by viral infections), plasmacytoma, advanced HIV and rheumatic diseases. Besides observing systemic symptoms, laboratory tests such as immunoglobulin levels, complement levels, interleukin levels, and C-reactive protein levels should also be performed in order to determine a diagnosis.

IgG4-Related Disease Involving the Paranasal Sinus Orbit: A Case Report

Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a rare and complicated clinical disease entity newly identified in recent years. It is a chronic inflammatory disease mediated by the immune system that can affect various organs throughout the body, such as the pancreas, salivary gland (submandibular gland, parotid gland, and sublingual gland), lacrimal gland, and thyroid gland. In rare cases, it involves sinuses and orbits. We describe a 44-year-old patient who was hospitalized with distension and pain in her right eye. The lesions included the nasal sinus and orbit. IgG4-RD was diagnosed after surgery and the patient was treated without complications. This case report helps to provide clinicians with additional information to assist in the diagnosis of the disease.

Autoimmune Pancreatitis: From Pathogenesis to Treatment

Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is a rare disease. The diagnosis of AIP is difficult and should be made by a comprehensive evaluation of clinical, radiological, serological, and pathological findings. Two different types of AIP have been identified: autoimmune pancreatitis type 1 (AIP-1), which is considered a pancreatic manifestation of multiorgan disease related to IgG4, and autoimmune pancreatitis type 2 (AIP-2), which is considered a pancreas-specific disease not related to IgG4. Although the pathophysiological conditions seem to differ between type 1 and type 2 pancreatitis, both respond well to steroid medications. In this review, we focused on the pathogenesis of the disease to develop a tool that could facilitate diagnosis and lead to the discovery of new therapeutic strategies to combat autoimmune pancreatitis and its relapses. The standard therapy for AIP is oral administration of corticosteroids. Rituximab (RTX) has also been proposed for induction of remission and maintenance therapy in relapsing AIP-1. In selected patients, immunomodulators such as azathioprine are used to maintain remission. The strength of this review, compared with previous studies, is that it focuses on the clear difference between the two types of autoimmune pancreatitis with a clearly delineated and separate pathogenesis. In addition, the review also considers various therapeutic options, including biologic drugs, such as anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) therapy, a well-tolerated and effective second-line therapy for AIP type 2 relapses or steroid dependence. Other biologic therapies are also being explored that could provide a useful therapeutic alternative to corticosteroids and immunosuppressants, which are poorly tolerated due to significant side effects.

Clinical and Radiological Features of Diffuse Lacrimal Gland Enlargement: Comparisons among Various Etiologies in 91 Biopsy-Confirmed Patients

Objective

To compare the clinical and radiological features of various etiologies of chronic diffuse lacrimal gland enlargement.

Materials and Methods

We retrospectively reviewed 91 consecutive patients who underwent surgical biopsy for chronic diffuse lacrimal gland enlargement and were diagnosed with non-specific dacryoadenitis (DA) (n = 42), immunoglobulin G4-related dacryoadenitis (IgG4-RD) (n = 33), and lymphoma (n = 16). Data on patient demographics, clinical presentation, and CT imaging findings (n = 73) and MRI (n = 43) were collected. The following radiologic features of lacrimal gland enlargement were evaluated: size, unilaterality, wedge sign, angle with the orbital wall, heterogeneity, signal intensity, degree of enhancement, patterns of dynamic contrast-enhanced, and apparent diffusion coefficient value. Radiological features outside the lacrimal glands, such as extra-lacrimal orbital involvement and extra-orbital head and neck involvement, were also evaluated. The clinical and radiological findings were compared among the three diseases.

Results

Compared to the DA and IgG4-RD groups, the lymphoma group was significantly older (mean 59.9 vs. 46.0 and 49.4 years, respectively; p = 0.001) and had a higher frequency of unilateral involvement (62.5% vs. 31.0% and 15.2%, respectively; p = 0.004). Compared to the IgG4-RD and lymphoma groups, the DA group had significantly smaller lacrimal glands (2.3 vs. 2.8 and 3.3 cm, respectively; p < 0.001) and a lower proportion of cases with a wedge sign (54.8% vs. 84.8% and 87.5%, respectively; p = 0.005). The IgG4-RD group showed more frequent involvement of the extra-orbital head and neck structures, including the infraorbital nerve (36.4%), paranasal sinus (72.7%), and salivary gland (58.6%) compared to the DA and lymphoma groups (4.8%–28.6%) (all p < 0.005).

Conclusion

Patient age, unilaterality, lacrimal gland size, wedge sign, and extra-orbital head and neck involvement differed significantly different between lymphoma, DA, and IgG4-RD. Our results will be useful for the differential diagnosis and proper management of chronic lacrimal gland enlargement.

[Immunoglobulin-G4-related disease]

After years of confusion about apparently distinct clinical disease symptoms, the term IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) has been coined in 2001, uniting these fibroinflammatory clinical entities with a tendency for tumorous enlargement and tissue fibrosis. Over the past two decades, experimental and clinical studies could make astounding progress in the understanding of this elusive disease. By now, we have a reasonable idea of the pathophysiological mechanisms, which opens up new avenues for therapeutic approaches. It seems like a dense lymphoplasmacytic cell infiltrate, consisting of B‑cells, IgG4⁺ plasma cells, follicular T‑helper cells, CD4⁺ cytotoxic T‑cells and M2 macrophages induces a smoldering inflammatory reaction with a fibrogenic cytokine milieu. This stimulates fibroblasts to secrete extracellular matrix components, leading to the histopathologically characteristic storiform fibrosis and obliterative phlebitis. Macroscopically, this reaction results in diffuse organ swelling and tumorous lesions. The macroscopic and histological differentiation from conditions mimicking IgG4-RD can be challenging. This is especially true for granulomatous diseases, such as antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV). The situation is further complicated by the fact that ANCAs can be positive in IgG4-RD and, vice versa IgG4 antibodies can be elevated in numerous differential diagnoses, such as infections, AAV, sarcoidosis, and malignancies. This article provides an overview of the multifaceted clinical condition of IgG4-RD with respect to the pathophysiology, diagnostic steps and treatment. Furthermore, an overview of the differential diagnoses is discussed especially with respect to granulomatous diseases.

American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism classification criteria for IgG4-related disease: an update for radiologists

IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an immune-mediated, multiorgan, chronic inflammatory disease. The three-step classification criteria proposed in 2019 by the American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) encompass a wide range of clinical, radiological, serological, and histopathological findings. The ACR/EULAR proposed a three-step classification process, i.e., entry step, exclusion step, and scoring system. Radiologists need to know that the radiological findings observed in the five domains of the lacrimal and salivary glands, chest, pancreas and biliary ducts, kidney, and retroperitoneum are independently weighted with different points in the scoring system. A total score < 20 points indicates that the patient should not be classified as having IgG4-RD; conversely, a total score ≥ 20 points indicates that the patient should be classified as having IgG4-RD. In this review, the 2019 ACR/EULAR classification criteria are discussed, focusing on the interpretation of each radiological item, with the aim of applying them to the diagnosis of IgG4-RD in clinical practice.