Periaortitis and aortic dissection due to Wegener's granulomatosis

We describe here a patient with abdominal periaortitis and intramural disse ction as early manifestations of Wegener's granulomatosis (WG). Surgical bi opsies taken from the retroperitoneal inflammatory tissue surrounding the a orta showed granulomatous vasculitis. The patient had antiproteinase-3 anti bodies and suffered from nasal, pulmonary, nervous and renal WG involvement . Although being a vasculitis of medium size and small vessels, WG should b e included in the systemic vasculitides which can give rise to (peri)aortic inflammation.