Immunology USMLE Step 1 Practice Question
A 76-year-old woman presents to the clinic with a 2-month history of temporal headaches, scalp tenderness, and jaw claudication while chewing. She reports amaurosis fugax of the right eye lasting 10 minutes this morning. On examination, she has limited shoulder abduction and hip flexion bilaterally due to pain and stiffness. Laboratory studies show an erythrocyte sedimentation rate of 68 mm/h and a hemoglobin of 9.8 g/dL. Temporal artery biopsy confirms the suspected diagnosis. High-dose corticosteroid therapy is initiated. Which of the following laboratory findings would be expected as a direct consequence of corticosteroid treatment?
Answer choices
- ADecreased lymphocytes, decreased neutrophils, decreased eosinophils, and decreased fibroblasts
- BIncreased lymphocytes, increased neutrophils, decreased eosinophils, and increased fibroblasts
- CDecreased lymphocytes, increased neutrophils, increased eosinophils, and increased fibroblasts
- DDecreased lymphocytes, decreased neutrophils, increased eosinophils, and decreased fibroblasts
- EDecreased lymphocytes, increased neutrophils, decreased eosinophils, and decreased fibroblastsCorrect answer
- FIncreased lymphocytes, decreased neutrophils, decreased eosinophils, and decreased fibroblasts
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