Felty’s syndrome – a rare case of febrile neutropenia

Abstract

Felty's syndrome (rheumatoid arthritis with neutropenia and splenomegaly) is a rare condition with poor long-term prognosis, mainly as a result of severe infection risk. An effective treatment strategy has not been developed so far and current treatment options are based upon case reports, small series and clinical experience since no randomized clinical trials are available. The authors describe the case of a 53-year-old female patient with a 14-year history of rheumatoid arthritis presenting with fever, neutropenia and splenomegaly. Broad-spectrum antibiotics and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor were administered with good clinical outcome and low dose methotrexate for disease control was successfully initiated after discharge. We would like to highlight the importance of being aware of this syndrome in the differential diagnosis of long term rheumatoid arthritis patients presenting with febrile neutropenia.

Systemic complications of rheumatoid arthritis: Focus on pathogenesis and treatment

“…Treatment of Felty syndrome is supportive and is aimed at controlling underlying RA while improving neutropenia to prevent life-threatening infections (156). However, due to the lack of evidencebased medicine, most drugs are empirical (157).…”