| BACKGROUND: epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA) is a chronic subepidermal blistering disease that is frequently resistant to therapy. OBJECTIVE: A 58-year-old man who had a one-year history of a bullous eruption involving the hands, forearms, trunk, scalp, and oral mucosa. Histopathology revealed a subepidermal bulla, and direct and indirect immunofluorescence studies were consistent with EBA. The patient failed respond to niacinamide and tetracycline and oral prednisone 40 mg per day. methods: Complete control of his blistering was achieved within two months of initiating oral dapsone, 150 mg per day. CONCLUSION: dapsone may be an effective agent for some patients with EBA. ( info) |
| epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA) is a rare autoimmune bullous disorder that is often difficult to treat. Few cases have been reported and therapy consists mainly of combinations of systemic steroids, immunosuppressants and, recently, administration of intravenous human immunoglobulin (IVIg). We describe a case of EBA in which our therapeutic choices were limited due to the patient's poor general condition, including extensive infection of the lesions and a history of pulmonary tuberculosis. The patient was treated with IVIg at a dose of 400 mg/kg per day for 5 consecutive days every 4 weeks. The treatment was well tolerated and the results were satisfactory. It seems that IVIg, due to its possible immunomodulatory mode of action, can be an efficacious therapeutic agent in this rare autoimmune disease. ( info) |
| We describe a 73-year-old patient who had a subepidermal bullous eruption develop after a course of antibiotics, including vancomycin. The patient had deposits of IgA and IgG in the cutaneous basement membrane zone that were located on the dermal side of 1 M NaCl-treated autologous skin. By an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the patient was found to have circulating IgG antibodies directed against type VII collagen, the target antigen of epidermolysis bullosa acquisita. Our observation expands the spectrum of immune-mediated subepidermal bullous skin eruptions precipitated by drugs and lends support to the idea that a subset of these cases represents an unusual variant of drug-triggered epidermolysis bullosa acquisita. ( info) |
14/80. Dysphagia in a patient with lupus and review of the literature. Dysphagia is not infrequent in patients with connective tissue diseases such as scleroderma, polymyositis or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It is usually the result of gastro-oesophageal reflux but dysmotility can equally be responsible. A case of dysphagia is described in a patient with SLE, who had developed a rare variety of bullous mucous disease affecting the whole length of oesophagus with spontaneous extrusion of an oesophageal cast. Histological features were suggestive of a variant of rare form of bullous disease in SLE called epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA). This rare association of SLE and EBA involving the oesophagus has not been described in the literature. ( info) |
15/80. Bullous systemic lupus erythematosus with milia and calcinosis. Bullous systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a rare skin manifestation of SLE. It shares many features with epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA). We report on a patient with SLE who developed a vesiculobullous eruption followed by findings not typical in bullous SLE, namely milia, mild scarring, and calcinosis. We discuss the relationship between bullous SLE and EBA. ( info) |
16/80. Childhood epidermolysis bullosa acquisita: a novel variant with reactivity to all three structural domains of type VII collagen. Most patients with epidermolysis bullosa acquisita develop an autoimmune response to the non-collagenous (NC) 1 domain of type VII collagen. We report a 4-year-old girl of white European descent presenting with widespread blistering disease involving the face, hands, genital area and oral mucosa. Histopathology revealed subepidermal blisters, and linear deposits of IgG and C3 were seen along the dermal-epidermal junction on direct immunofluorescence (IF) microscopy of a perilesional skin biopsy. On indirect IF microscopy, circulating autoantibodies exclusively stained the dermal side of 1 mol L-1 NaCl-split skin. The patient's IgG autoantibodies labelled a 290-kDa protein on Western blotting of dermal extracts, and reacted with the NC1, NC2 and triple helical domains of type VII collagen on immunoblotting of recombinant and cell-derived fragments obtained by pepsin and collagenase digestion of the full-length protein. Oral methylprednisolone and dapsone led to clearance of lesions, which healed with mild scarring and milia formation. Treatment was discontinued after 1 year and the patient has now been in remission for more than 3 years. ( info) |
| The coexistence in the same patient of epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (a rare, autoimmune, acquired mucocutaneous blistering disorder) and multiple myeloma (a plasma cell neoplasm) is extremely uncommon. We describe a patient in whom both of these diseases occurred simultaneously. Intravenous immunoglobulins were used to treat both diseases. ( info) |
| epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA) is a subepidermal autoimmune blistering disease that is rarely reported in childhood. We describe a nine-month-old mulatto boy presenting with multiple, annular, widespread, tense blisters and oral lesions. The diagnosis of EBA was confirmed by histopathology, immunofluorescence, and immunoblotting analysis. The patient was successfully treated with systemic steroids (prednisone) and dapsone. After 20 months of initial treatment, clinical remission was observed, and dapsone remains as the current treatment. This case report emphasizes the rarity of EBA in childhood and the difficulties in reaching the final diagnosis. ( info) |
19/80. A case of nonscarring subepidermal blistering disease associated with autoantibodies reactive with both type VII collagen and laminin 5. A 35-year-old Japanese woman had recurrent, pruritic, vesicular lesions on the face, neck and upper back as well as erosive lesions of the oral cavity and genitalia. The skin and mucosal lesions healed without scarring upon the systemic administration of corticosteroid and azathioprine. Direct immunofluorescence revealed linear deposits of IgG, IgA and C3 at the cutaneous basement membrane zone. Indirect immunofluorescence on 1 M NaCl-split human skin sections demonstrated that the patient's IgG antibodies reacted with the dermal side of the split, while IgA antibodies weakly reacted with the epidermal side. By immunoblot analyses, the patient's serum reacted with the NC1 domain of type VII collagen as well as both the alpha3- and beta3-subunits of laminin 5. We regarded our case as a nonscarring subepidermal blistering disease with autoantibodies to both type VII collagen and two different subunits of laminin 5. Such a case has not been previously reported. ( info) |
| epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA) is a rare acquired subepidermal blistering disorder associated with autoimmunity to type VII collagen. Although the full clinical spectrum of EBA is still being defined, it is now known that EBA has greater clinical heterogeneity than previously suggested. We describe a patient with EBA which closely approximated the severity of the recessive form of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. ( info) |