# A Red Eye in an Elderly Patient: A Case Report Highlighting the Importance of Urgent Diagnosis

## TL;DR

This case report emphasizes the urgent need to diagnose GPA, a type of autoimmune disease, when it presents with eye symptoms in elderly patients.

## Contribution

The report highlights GPA's ophthalmologic presentation as a critical initial symptom requiring immediate diagnosis.

## Key findings

- GPA can present with ophthalmologic symptoms as the first sign of the disease.
- Prompt diagnosis and treatment are crucial to prevent severe complications.
- Ophthalmologic involvement in GPA is significant and often multi-system.

## Abstract

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides are a distinct group of autoimmune disorders characterized by necrotizing inflammation of small blood vessels. Three distinct clinical entities are described, including eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA). GPA often presents as a multi-system inflammatory disease frequently involving the sinuses, kidney, and lung tissue. Ophthalmologic involvement has been described in GPA and is highly important to recognize, especially if presenting as the initial symptom of the disease. Prompt diagnosis and treatment are essential, given the significant morbidity and mortality associated with GPA.