Imaging of Wegener's granulomatosis

Wegener's granulomatosis is an uncommon multisystemic disorder of unknown aetiology. It is characterized histopathologically by necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis. Most commonly this involves the upper and lower respiratory tract, with pulmonary involvement occurring at some stage of the disease in almost all patients. However, many other organ systems can also be affected including the kidneys, orbits and central nervous system. For this pictorial review, we have assessed the imaging of 155 patients over a 10-year period in order to illustrate characteristic and some of the more unusual imaging features of Wegener's granulomatosis.