Complement Abnormalities With Lower Extremities Discomfort in Vietnamese Immigrants

The objective was to measure complement C'l esterase inhibitor (ClINH) in a group of Vietnamese outpatients with lower extremities discomfort of undetermined etiology. All 25 female patients were followed between 1992 and 1995. Their age ranged from 24 to 82 years old (mean age, 46.68 ± 13.77). They presented with unexplained lower extremities discomfort. They were found to have low levels of ClINH (mean, 11.36 ± 1.44 mg/dL versus control subjects, 15.64 ± 2.22 mg/dL). Twenty-one patients were treated with oral Danazol 200 mg daily for 1–2 months. The improvement of the symptoms in our patients coincided with increased ClINH level in all of our patients (pretreatment, 11.33 ± 1.46 mg/dL versus posttreatment, 16.82 ± 2.98 mg/dL with p < 0.001) and the return to normal functional activity of ClINH associated with and without Danazol treatment. These patients may represent a form of androgen-responsive limited to the lower extremity's discomfort associated with low levels of ClINH, normal levels of Clq and normal ratio of C4d/C4 that differentiated them from angioedema (hereditary or acquired form), having no known precipitating factors or a family history of hereditary angioedema.