No abstract

Venous disease is the most common cause of leg ulcers. The refractory nature of venous ulcers affects the quality of life and work productivity of those persons afflicted. This, in combination with the high costs of long-term therapy, makes venous ulcers a major health problem in developed countries. Management of venous leg ulcers is based on understanding pathophysiologic abnormalities. In recent years, identifying prognostic factors for healing and developing novel therapeutic approaches for venous ulcers have offered valuable tools for the management of patients with this disorder.

Background: At present, wound treatment of inherited epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is only supportive.Objective: To determine the safety and clinical effects of tissue-engineered skin (Apligraf; Organogenesis Inc, Canton, Mass) in the healing of wounds of patients with different types of EB.Design: An open-label uncontrolled study of 15 patients with EB treated with tissue-engineered skin. Each patient received tissue-engineered skin on up to 2 wounds on each of 3 clinic visits: day 1, week 6, and week 12. They were evaluated 7 ( ± 3) days and 6 weeks after each round of treatment. A quality-of-life survey was administered during week 6.

Objective: To characterize the epidemiological, clinical, and histopathological features of patients with cancer who develop widespread polymorphic and pruritic skin lesions following radiotherapy.Patients, Design, and Interventions: During phase 1, epidemiological and clinical features of 103 patients with cancer, 83 treated with radiotherapy (71 women and 12 men) and 20 controls who did not undergo radiotherapy (16 women and 4 men), were explored during 3 months (October 1995 to January 1996. During phase 2, in 30 additional patients with cancer who were treated with telecobalt or linear accelerator, 18 with skin lesions (15 women and 3 men) and 12 without lesions (10 women and 2 men), the following were investigated: (1) hematoxylin-eosin-stained sections for routine histopathological examination and direct immunofluorescence, and lymphocytic markers;(2) blood, skin, and primary tumor eosinophilia; and(3) the presence of antiepidermal autoantibodies. Patients were examined during 5 months (February 1996 to June 1996). Setting:A dermatology department at a university hospital.Results: During phase 1, 14 (17%) of the 83 patients undergoing radiotherapy developed an eruption. Acral excoriations, erythematous papules, vesicles, and bullae were the most frequent lesions. During phase 2, in 18 patients, a superficial and deep lymphocytic perivascular infiltrate with numerous eosinophils, intraepidermal and interstitial eosinophilic infiltrates, eosinophilic panniculitis, IgM and C3 perivascular deposits, and slightly predominant CD4 + cells wereobserved.Noantiepidermalautoantibodieswerefound. Conclusions:The clinical, histopathological, and immunopathologic features in patients with cancer undergoing radiotherapy are described. To our knowledge, this condition has not been well characterized. Because of its unique presentation, the denomination "eosinophilic, polymorphic, and pruritic eruption associated with radiotherapy" is suggested.