[Necrotizing angiitis with or without asthma. Clinical, biological and etiological differences. Role of hepatitis B...

Sixty-five cases of necrotizing angiitis, including 20 with asthma (group A) and 45 without asthma (group B) were studied retrospectively. All patients were investigated for markers of hepatitis B, at least the HBs antigen. Skin lesions and arthralgias were more common in group B patients. Eosinophilia during angiitis was almost constant in group A and was observed in only 6% of group B patients. Renal involvement, hepatic lesions and arterial hypertension seemed to be more frequent in group B but the difference was not significant. The HBs antigen was present in 1/20 patients of group A and in 17/45 patients of group B (p less than 0.01). The anti-HBs antibody was found with equal frequency in both groups. The clinical and biological differences observed between these two groups of patients strongly suggest that necrotizing vasculitis with and without asthma are two separate nosological entities and in particular, that they have different causes.