A 17-year-old girl with weight loss and elevated inflammatory markers

Abstract

A 17-year-old girl presented to her primary care physician with a history of unintentional weight loss and vague sensory symptoms, including tingling of her lower extremities. She had a nonrevealing neurology workup and a largely normal rheumatology workup apart from mild elevation in her inflammatory markers. She also had a nonfocal examination apart from a posterior cervical lymph node (2 × 1 cm). Given that she was well appearing, with a nonfocal examination and only mild laboratory abnormalities, she was told to follow-up with rheumatology in 3 months. Around that time, she re-presented to her medical home for a well-child visit, during which she was noted to have continued weight loss, now amounting to 17 lb in 1 year, and marked further elevation in her inflammatory markers. Her laboratory results were also significant for a profound microcytic anemia requiring inpatient admission for blood transfusion. During her admission, she was seen by the rheumatology, gastroenterology, and oncology subspecialty teams. Despite imaging studies and extensive laboratory workup, there was no unifying diagnosis at the time of her hospital discharge. Ultimately, an outpatient imaging study revealed the etiology.