Purpose: To determine which 10 prescription-only drugs used in outpatient treatment in Germany are most frequently reported to induce severe drug hypersensitivity reactions taking into account their prescription numbers. In addition, the reader should be made aware of respective databases available to the public and their limitations.
Methods: Reports of anaphylactic and severe cutaneous adverse reactions were identified in the adverse drug reaction database of the German competent authority for the time period January 1998 to December 2012.
A growing intended or accidental exposure to nanoparticles asks for the elucidation of potential toxicity linked to the penetration of normal and lesional skin. We studied the skin penetration of dye-tagged dendritic core-multishell (CMS) nanotransporters and of Nile red loaded CMS nanotransporters using fluorescence microscopy. Normal and stripped human skin ex vivo as well as normal reconstructed human skin and in vitro skin disease models served as test platforms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOrally active kinase inhibitors such as Sorafenib are known to elicit cutaneous side effects in the majority of adult patients, whereas specific cutaneous complications of this agent have not been described in children so far. We here present the first pediatric case of Sorafenib-induced hand-foot-skin reaction and its successful topical therapy facilitating continuation of kinase inhibitor treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtopic dermatitis (AD) has been sub-classified into extrinsic and intrinsic types according to the presence or not of allergen-specific IgE antibodies. Although total serum IgE levels are frequently elevated in AD, their potential to predict allergen-specific IgE (asIgE) has rare ly been studied. We investigated 103 children with AD and suspected allergen-specific sensitization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe term neonatal or infantile erythroderma designates a generalized erythema covering more than 90% of the body surface area of neonates and young infants. Erythrodermas are not rare in this age group and have been associated with more than 40 diseases of different degrees of severity. Regardless of the underlying illness, impending acute symptoms of an impaired epidermal barrier function (hypothermia, dehydration, sepsis) must be recognized and treated adequately.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHaematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the treatment of choice for severe primary immunodeficiencies, but only has moderate prognosis in Omenn syndrome as it is complicated by highly activated Omenn T-cells resulting in delayed T-cell engraftment and a high rate of graft failure. A 6 1/2 months old patient with a previously unknown compound heterozygous defect within the RAG1 gene (R474C; R975W) underwent 8/10 HLA-matched cord blood transplantation after myeloablative conditioning. Immune reconstitution was impressive with T-, B- and NK-cells reaching the median of age-dependent reference values within twelve, four and two months respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) with 5-aminolevulinate and methyl aminolevulinate in the treatment of actinic keratosis has been demonstrated in a large number of clinical studies over the last several years. Here, we recapitulate the major findings, comparing the various photosensitizers, light sources and therapeutic regimens, and present a retrospective analysis of 142 own cases treated with 259 PDTs. In addition, we also discuss the value of PDT in comparison with cryotherapy or 5-fluorouracil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn a series of 50 consecutive cases in the outpatients' unit of Environmental Medicine (UEM) at the University Hospital of Aachen, Germany, five patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia presented delusions of being poisoned by environmental factors. This case report illustrates the clinical features of the paranoid type of schizophrenic psychoses. Schizophrenia represents an important differential diagnosis in the interdisciplinary diagnosis and management of health problems attributed to environmental factors.
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