Intravenous Immunoglobulin Therapy for Pyoderma Gangrenosum: A Multicenter Retrospective Analysis in 81 Patients.

Background: Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is rare neutrophil skin disease causing painful, progressively enlarging ulcers. Among the treatment options, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is a therapy of first choice for paraneoplastic PG. Otherwise, it is used in therapy-refractory courses.

Computer-Assisted Differential Diagnosis of Pyoderma Gangrenosum and Venous Ulcers with Deep Neural Networks.

(1) Background: Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is often situated on the lower legs, and the differentiation from conventional leg ulcers (LU) is a challenging task due to the lack of clear clinical diagnostic criteria. Because of the different therapy concepts, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis bears a great risk for patients. (2) Objective: to develop a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) capable of analysing wound photographs to facilitate the PG diagnosis for health professionals.

A novel histopathological scoring system to distinguish urticarial vasculitis from chronic spontaneous urticaria.

Background: Urticarial vasculitis (UV) is defined by long-lasting urticarial lesions combined with the histopathologic findings of leukocytoclastic vasculitis. As one of the major unmet needs in UV, diagnostic criteria are rather vague and not standardized. Moreover, there seems to be considerable overlap with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), particularly for the normocomplementemic variant of UV.

Scoping review of biological treatment of deficiency of interleukin-36 receptor antagonist (DITRA) in children and adolescents.

Background: Deficiency of interleukin-36 receptor antagonist (DITRA) is a life threatening monogenic autoinflammatory disease caused by loss of function mutations in the IL36RN gene. Affected patients develop recurrent episodes of generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) with systemic inflammation and fever. We here review and analyze the literature on pediatric DITRA patients who have been treated by biologicals targeting inflammatory cytokines.

Intravascular natural killer cell lymphoma mimicking mycosis fungoides: a case report and review of the literature.

Intravascular lymphoma is a rare entity. Most cases constitute a variant of extranodal diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and only 10% of the published cases are of T-cell or histiocytic origin. Even fewer cases of intravascular natural killer (NK) cell lymphoma have been reported.

Occludin is involved in adhesion, apoptosis, differentiation and Ca2+-homeostasis of human keratinocytes: implications for tumorigenesis.

Tight junction (TJ) proteins are involved in a number of cellular functions, including paracellular barrier formation, cell polarization, differentiation, and proliferation. Altered expression of TJ proteins was reported in various epithelial tumors. Here, we used tissue samples of human cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), its precursor tumors, as well as sun-exposed and non-sun-exposed skin as a model system to investigate TJ protein alteration at various stages of tumorigenesis.

Alteration of tight junction proteins is an early event in psoriasis: putative involvement of proinflammatory cytokines.

Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease characterized by hyperproliferation of keratinocytes, impaired barrier function, and pronounced infiltration of inflammatory cells. Tight junctions (TJs) are cell-cell junctions that form paracellular barriers for solutes and inflammatory cells. Altered localization of TJ proteins in the epidermis was described in plaque-type psoriasis.

Acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis (Sweet's syndrome) in childhood and adolescence: two new patients and review of the literature on associated diseases.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to analyse the literature on Sweet's syndrome in childhood focussing on associated diseases and to suggest possible screening procedures for this group of patients. Furthermore, two new patients with Sweet's syndrome are reported.

Methods: A literature search was performed on Pub med using search terms "sweet* syndrome*" and neutrophil* dermatos*.

[Type IV-allergy due to corticosteroids. Rare and paradoxical].

History And Clinical Findings: A 48-year-old woman developed a skin rash after taking glucocorticoids.

Investigations: Positive patch tests revealed type IV allergy (delayed reaction) to several glucocorticoids. In addition an eczema-like rash was produced by an oral provocation test with triamcinolone, although the patch test for this drug had been negative.

Angioedema due to type I allergy to snuff tobacco.

A 67-year-old male patient twice developed severe angioedema after enjoying a meal and an after-dinner snuff. The cause for these allergic reactions was a type I allergy to tobacco contained in the snuff. In addition to positive prick tests to tobacco, specific serum IgE antibodies (CAP-FEIA) to snuff were found, while prick tests and RASTs for suspected foods were negative.

Human seminal plasma allergy--a rare cause of recurrent anaphylaxis.

Allergies to sperm are very uncommon. A 23-year old woman with atopic dermatitis complained of three attacks of angioedema, urticaria, wheezing and weakness. When questioned about factors causing exercise-induced anaphylaxis, the patient reported having had sexual intercourse with the same partner one hour before each event.

Topical imiquimod as treatment for different kinds of cutaneous lymphoma.

Imiquimod as a topical immune response modifier leads to a localized production of interferon and other cytokines. Apart from its use for genital warts it has therefore been used as treatment for different cutaneous neoplasms, including a few cases of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. We treated 8 patients (4 with mycosis fungoides, 1 with CD30+ anaplastic large cell lymphoma and 3 with primary cutaneous B-cell lymphoma) with topical imiquimod.

Skin grafting of a chronic leg ulcer with combined Versajet-V.A.C. therapy.

A new method for surgical wound debridement is the Versajet hydrosurgery technique. This technique uses a high velocity jet of sterile saline with a speed up to 1,078 km/h (670 miles/h). By using the Venturi effect (fluid speeds up in a restriction, reducing its pressure and producing a partial vacuum), a simultaneous vacuum is created across the operating window of the handpiece.

[Hyperpigmentosis and hypertrichosis of the eyelids after use of bimatoprost eye drops].

After application of bimatoprost containing eye drops for four weeks, a 72 year-old patient, suffering from glaucoma, developed hyperpigmentation and hypertrichosis of the eyelids. These symptoms can be seen in 1-10% of the patients as side effects in local therapy with bimatoprost, a prostaglandin analogue. The changes persist for varying periods of time but are reversible.

Temozolomide in combination with interferon-alfa versus temozolomide alone in patients with advanced metastatic melanoma: a randomized, phase III, multicenter study from the Dermatologic Cooperative Oncology Group.

Purpose: Temozolomide (TMZ) has shown efficacy in metastatic melanoma equal to that of dacarbazine (DTIC), the standard chemotherapeutic agent for melanoma. As the combination with interferon-alfa (IFN-alpha) appears superior to single-agent DTIC regarding response rates, the purpose of this study was to compare TMZ alone and TMZ plus IFN-alpha in terms of objective response (OR), overall survival, and safety in a prospective, randomized, multicenter trial.

Patients And Methods: Two hundred ninety-four patients with untreated stage IV metastatic melanoma (American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system) were randomly assigned to receive either oral TMZ alone (200 mg/m2/day; days 1 through 5 every 28 days) or in combination with subcutaneous IFN-alpha (5 MU/m2; days 1, 3, and 5 every week).

MAGE-A3 is a frequent tumor antigen of metastasized melanoma.

MAGE-3 or MAGE-A3 is one of the best-characterized tumor antigens. Due to its tumor-restricted expression pattern and its recognition by both cytotoxic and helper T cells it constitutes a promising tumor antigen for anticancer immunotherapy, notably of malignant melanoma. Surprisingly, however, only very limited information is available on the frequency and consistency of its expression in metastatic melanoma lesions.

Topical photodynamic therapy for patients with therapy-resistant lesions of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Photodynamic therapy after topical application of 5-aminolevulinic acid is an effective therapy for nonmelanoma epithelial skin cancers. It has also been used for some cases of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. We treated 4 patients with different cutaneous T-cell lymphomas with photodynamic therapy.