Clinical analysis of leg ulcers and gangrene in rheumatoid arthritis.

Leg ulcers are often complicated in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), however, the etiology is multifactorial. We examined the cases of leg ulceration or gangrene in seven RA patients who were hospitalized over the past 3 years. One patient was diagnosed as having pyoderma gangrenosum.

A case of rapidly progressive, fatal mycosis fungoides presenting as a haematoma-like lesion.

Mycosis fungoides usually follows an indolent clinical course. We report here a rapidly progressive case of mycosis fungoides with peculiar clinical and histological features, presenting as a haematoma-like mass on the thigh accompanied by multiple reddish brown erythematous lesions on the trunk and extremities. Histopathologically, the erythematous lesions showed epidermotropism of atypical T lymphocytes expressing CD4 and prominent syringotropism without syringometaplasia.

Clinical follow-up study of adult-onset Still's disease.

Eighteen patients with adult-onset Still's disease have been followed up for 3-22 years in our department. Initial manifestations were fever with skin rash in 14 patients, fever, skin rash and sore throat in two, skin rash in one and arthralgia in one. During the follow-up period, typical skin rash was seen in all patients, of them five patients (29%) revealed atypical skin rash simultaneously.

Isolated cutaneous manifestation of IgG4-related disease.

Aims: The cutaneous manifestation of IgG(4)-related disease has rarely been reported. The aim of this study is to identify and describe the cutaneous manifestations associated with IgG(4)-positive plasma cell infiltration in the skin.

Methods: The authors investigated two cases of IgG(4)-related disease with solitary skin lesions and compared the immunohistochemical characteristics of infiltrating cells among IgG(4)-related disease, Kimura's disease and cutaneous pseudolymphoma.

Bosentan for digital ulcers in patients with systemic sclerosis.

Recurrent digital ulcers are manifestations of vascular disease in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). We report six patients with severe digital ulcers who were treated with bosentan administered p.o.

Digital gangrene in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Digital ulcers and gangrene are common skin manifestations of connective tissue diseases, especially systemic sclerosis, although they are relatively rare in systemic lupus erythematosus. We describe here three patients with digital gangrene and systemic lupus erythematosus. None of the patients showed high disease activity of systemic lupus erythematosus at the time the digital gangrene developed.