Willingness-to-pay stated preferences in cutaneous lupus erythematosus: a pilot study.

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) is a chronic skin disease that significantly impacts quality of life (QOL). This study tested a novel method to measure QOL in CLE using willingness-to-pay (WTP) stated preferences, and aimed to determine which of nine domains of life are most affected by CLE. Twenty-one participants with CLE ranked the domains in order of impact on CLE-related QOL, and then stated how many United States dollars they would be willing to pay for a hypothetical cure for each domain.

Development and Pilot Testing of the Cutaneous Lupus Screening Tool.

Importance: Patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) experience significant morbidity and poor quality of life. In the absence of a dermatologist's examination, no reliable tool exists to confirm whether a patient has CLE for use in epidemiologic studies.

Objective: To determine whether the Cutaneous Lupus Screening (CLUSE) tool can detect cases of CLE by measuring its performance in individuals with dermatologist-diagnosed CLE compared with individuals without CLE.

The Brigham Scalp Nail Inverse Palmoplantar Psoriasis Composite Index (B-SNIPI): a novel index to measure all non-plaque psoriasis subsets.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease that encompasses a large spectrum of clinically distinct subtypes. Although chronic plaque psoriasis is reported as the most common form of psoriatic skin disease, there is growing evidence that other variants including scalp, nail, inverse, and palmoplantar psoriasis are prevalent, undertreated, and associated with significant impairment in quality of life. Currently, the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) is the standard to assess psoriasis severity as well as response to treatment; however, the PASI has several limitations.

Dermatomyositis induced by anti-tumor necrosis factor in a patient with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Importance: Biologic therapies, including anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents, are increasingly used to treat a variety of autoimmune diseases. Paradoxically, these agents have been reported to induce some of the very diseases they were designed to treat, including dermatomyositis (DM). We describe the first case of anti-TNF-associated DM without muscle involvement presenting in an adult patient with a history of arthritis since childhood.

Idiopathic hemi-facial lipoatrophy treated with autologous fat transfer.

Facial lipoatrophy can be socially disfiguring, often prompting patients to seek correction. A variety of agents are used to treat facial lipoatrophy, but the quest for the ideal agent remains elusive. We present a case of non-HIV associated, idiopathic hemi-facial lipoatrophy successfully treated with autologous fat transfer (ATF).

The effects of alcohol and drug abuse on the skin.

Skin changes associated with alcohol and drug abuse can be the earliest clinical manifestation of these disorders. The signs associated with these conditions may be distinctive and easily recognizable. Alcohol abuse can present with jaundice, pruritus, hyperpigmentation, and urticaria.

RPA classification has prognostic significance for surgically resected single brain metastasis.

Purpose: To retrospectively evaluate prognostic factors that correlate with overall survival among patients with a surgically resected single brain metastasis.

Methods And Materials: An Institutional Review Board-approved database of the Cleveland Clinic Brain Tumor Institute was queried for patients with a single brain metastasis treated by surgical resection between February 1984 and January 2004. The primary endpoint was overall survival from the date of surgery by the Kaplan-Meier method.

Five-year survivors of brain metastases: a single-institution report of 32 patients.

Purpose: To report on 32 patients who survived > or = 5 years from brain metastases treated at a single institution.

Methods And Materials: The records of 1288 patients diagnosed with brain metastases between 1973 and 1999 were reviewed. Patients were treated with whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT), surgery, and/or stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).