Assessment of bullous pemphigoid disease area index during treatment: a prospective study of 30 patients.

Background: Recently, a consensus Bullous Pemphigoid Disease Area Index (BPDAI) was proposed to measure therapeutic outcomes in bullous pemphigoid (BP).

Objective: To compare BPDAI with other clinical parameters of disease activity at baseline and to describe the variations of BPDAI during the initial phase of treatment.

Methods: Thirty BP patients were included and followed for 1 year.

[Transition from pemphigus vulgaris to pemphigus foliaceus: a case report].

Background: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and pemphigus foliaceus (PF) are the two main subtypes of auto-immune pemphigus, each having different clinical, histological and immunopathological features. We report the case of a patient initially with typical PV who relapsed within 2years, presenting clinically, histologically and immunologically typical PF.

Patients And Methods: A 47-year old man presented in March 2008 with clinically, histologically and serologically typical PV and treated with systemic corticosteroids alone (prednisone: 1mg/kg per day) then combined with a cycle of rituximab, which resulted in complete remission.

Diagnosis and management of melanoma with regional lymph node metastases: a population-based study in France.

Background: Stage III melanoma represents a borderline situation regarding the potential curability of this potentially aggressive cancer and consequently, regional lymph node metastases (RLNM) are a major challenge for melanoma management.

Objective: To describe the management of melanoma with RLNM as practised in France in 2008 and compare results with previous data from 2004, considering that new French recommendations were published in 2005.

Methods: Retrospective population-based study in five regions of France totalling 8.