[A case of myelodysplastic syndrome with pericarditis due to atypical Mycobacterium]

A 28-year-old woman with high fever and cough was admitted because of an abnormal shadow on the chest X-ray film. Mycobacterium kansasii was detected by sputum culture. The complete blood cell count disclosed pancytopenia and the myelogram showed slight hypoplasia and abnormality of the cell morphology. We diagnosed her disease as atypical mycobacteriosis and myelodysplastic syndrome. We began medical therapy with antituberculous drugs against Mycobacterium kansassi, and the sputum culture became negative. She was discharged after 4 months, but cardiothoracic ratio (CTR) increased gradually and pericardial effusion was detected by echocardiogram during follow-up. She was admitted again. We did not perform exploratory puncture, because the pericardial effusion did not increase for 6 months after admission and she had no complaints. We continued the antituberculous drugs, and CTR and the pericardial effusion decreased during follow-up. We considered the diagnosis in this case to be pericarditis due to Mycobacterium kansasii.