Correlation between the histopathology of chronic urticaria and its clinical picture

Abstract BACKGROUND: Chronic urticaria is characterized by transient, pruritic lesions of varying sizes, with central pallor and well-defined edges, with disease duration longer than six weeks. Its cellular infiltrate consists of neutrophils, lymphocytes and eosinophils. There is a subgroup of patients with eosinophilic or neutrophilic urticaria, resistant to the treatment with antihistamines, but that respond to a combination of antihistamine with other drugs. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the present infiltration in chronic urticaria biopsies and correlate it with the clinical disease activity and response to treatment. METHODS: Forty-one patients with chronic urticaria were classified according to the score of severity of the disease, response to treatment and type of perivascular infiltrate. Inflammatory infiltrates were divided in eosinophilic (46.30%), neutrophilic and mixed. RESULTS: An association was found between the eosinophilic infiltrate and clinical scores of greater severity (p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: This association shows that the eosinophilic inflammatory infiltrates denote high clinical activity, which means more severe and exuberant clinical pictures of the disease.

Tratamento de rosácea com duas faixas de comprimento de onda de luz intensa pulsada num mesmo disparo / Treatment of rosacea with dual-band wavelength intense pulsed light in a single shot

Introdução: A rosácea é doença crônica que geralmente se manifesta como flushing, eritema facial persistente, telangiectasias, pápulas e pústulas. A luz intensa pulsada é usada para tratamento de lesões vasculares de rosácea telangiectásica facial. Objetivos: Avaliar a melhora clínica e dermatoscópica do eritema facial e rubor, e o clareamento dos vasos à dermatoscopia após o uso de luz intensa pulsada. Métodos: Foram selecionados nove pacientes, com rosácea telangiectásica facial, com idade entre 36 e 59 anos, e fototipo I a III, sem qualquer tipo de tratamento nos últimos seis meses. O tratamento consiste em aplicações da luz intensa pulsada com dual-band, 535-680nm e 860-1200nm, no mesmo disparo. Por favorecer o alvo da hemoglobina, há maior proteção para a epiderme. Foram realizadas três sessões a intervalos de um mês. Resultados: Após o tratamento, 87,5% dos pacientes notaram redução de flushing e telangiectasias, e os médicos avaliadores, grande (> 75%) melhora clínica em 50% dos pacientes e melhora moderada (51%-75%) em 28,6%. Os efeitos adversos foram mínimos e transitórios. Conclusões: Até o momento nenhum tratamento mostrou-se completo para a rosácea telangiectásica. Este estudo demonstrou que o tratamento com luz intensa pulsada utilizando a tecnologia dual band é eficaz no tratamento da rosácea.

Introduction: Rosacea is a chronic disease that usually manifests as flushing, persistent facial erythema, telangiectasia, papules and pustules. Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) is reported for treatment of vascular lesions of facial telangiectasia rosacea. Objective: To assess clinical and dermoscopy improvement of facial erythema and flushing, and the clearing of vessels to dermoscopic after using IPL. Methods: Nine patients were selected, with facial telangiectasic rosacea, aged between 36 and 59 years, with skin types I to III, without any treatment in the past six months. The treatment consisted in applications of the Intense Pulsed Light(IPL) with dual-band, 535-680 nm and 860-1200 nm, in one single shot. To favor the target hemoglobin, there is a greater protection for the skin. Three sessions were conducted within the interval of 1 month. Results: After treatment, 87.5% of patients noticed reduction in flushing and telangiectasia. Adverse events were minimal and transient. To date no treatment was complete for telangiectasia rosacea. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that treatment with IPL technology using "dual-band" is effective in obtaining a large (>75%) clinical improvement in 50% of patients and moderate improvement (51% to 75%) in 28.6% of patients.