Eagle's syndrome as a cause of oropharyngeal dysphagia.

Eagle's syndrome is a little known entity defined as the elongation of the stylohyoid process and/or calcification of the stylohyoid ligament. It is a rare pathology that due to its presentation and possible complications should be taken into consideration in the differential diagnosis of oropharyngeal dysphagia. We present the case of a patient with Eagle's syndrome as well as essential aspects in the diagnosis and treatment of this entity.

Anorectal malignant melanoma, a diagnostic challenge.

Malignant anorectal melanoma is an extremely rare cause of rectal neoplasia, accounting for less than 1% of all melanomas and about 4% of all malignant colorectal neoplasms. We present the endoscopic and pathological images of a case in our clinical practice.

Recidivant odynophagia secondary to persistent esophageal candidiasis in an immunocompetent patient: the importance of brush cytology.

We present the case of a 53-year-old smoker woman without any relevant medical history who was attended as an outpatient due to several-month persistent odynophagia. An upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed, showing white cotton-like plaques throughout the esophagus, suggestive of candidiasis. An esophageal brushing plus biopsy sampling were done, empirically prescribing oral fluconazole for 21 days.

Erythema Increase Predicts Psoriasis Improvement after Phototherapy.

Psoriasis is a major global health problem. There is a need to develop techniques to help physicians select the most appropriate cost-effective therapy for each patient. The main objectives of this study are (1) to evaluate changes in epidermal barrier function and skin homeostasis after phototherapy and (2) to explore potentially predictive values in epidermal barrier function and skin homeostasis to assess clinical improvement after fifteen sessions of phototherapy.

Skin Barrier Function in Psoriasis and Atopic Dermatitis: Transepidermal Water Loss and Temperature as Useful Tools to Assess Disease Severity.

Multiple diagnostic tools are used to evaluate psoriasis and atopic dermatitis (AD) severity, but most of them are based on subjective components. Transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and temperature are skin barrier function parameters that can be objectively measured and could help clinicians to evaluate disease severity accurately. Thus, the aims of this study are: (1) to compare skin barrier function between healthy skin, psoriatic skin and AD skin; and (2) to assess if skin barrier function parameters could predict disease severity.

Epidermal barrier changes in patients with psoriasis: The role of phototherapy.

Background: Some skin diseases may modify epidermal barrier function. Psoriasis is a chronic multi-systemic inflammatory disease that affects the epidermal barrier. Phototherapy is an option for treating psoriasis, but little is known about how epidermal barrier function is modified by phototherapy in psoriatic patients.