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Background@#Psoriasis imposes a significant treatment burden on patients, particularly impacting well-being and quality of life (QoL). The psychosocial impact of psoriasis treatments remains unexplored in most patient populations. @*Objective@#To assess the impact of adalimumab on health-related QoL (HRQoL) in Korean patients with psoriasis. @*Methods@#This 24-week, multicenter, observational study, assessed HRQoL in Korean patients treated with adalimumab in a real-world setting. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) including European Quality of Life-5 Dimension scale (EQ-5D), EQ-5D VAS, SF-36, and DLQI were evaluated at week 16 and 24, versus baseline. Patient satisfaction was assessed using TSQM. @*Results@#Among 97 enrolled patients, 77 were assessed for treatment effectiveness. Most patients were male (52, 67.5%) and mean age was 45.4 years. Median baseline body surface area and Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scores were 15.00 (range 4.00~80.00) and 12.40 (range 2.70~39.40), respectively. Statistically significant improvements in all PROs were observed between baseline and week 24. Mean EQ-5D score improved from 0.88 (standard deviation [SD], 0.14) at baseline to 0.91 (SD, 0.17) at week 24 (p=0.0067). The number of patients with changes in PASI 75, 90, or 100 from baseline to week 16 and 24 were 65 (84.4%), 17 (22.1%), and 1 (1.3%); and 64 (83.1%), 21 (27.3%), and 2 (2.6%), respectively. Overall treatment satisfaction was reported, including effectiveness and convenience. No unexpected safety findings were noted. @*Conclusion@#Adalimumab improved QoL and was well-tolerated in Korean patients with moderate to severe psoriasis, as demonstrated in a real-world setting. Clinical trial registration number (clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03099083).
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Background@#Guselkumab is a monoclonal antibody that selectively blocks the p19 subunit of interleukin-23. It has shown good efficacy and safety profile in several clinical trials of plaque psoriasis. However, studies on the efficacy of guselkumab in patients treated with other biologics are lacking. @*Objective@#We aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety profile of guselkumab in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. We also compared the efficacy of guselkumab between biologic-naïve (Bio-Naïve) and biologicexperienced (Bio-Ex) patients. @*Methods@#This multicenter, retrospective study included 72 patients treated with guselkumab. The patients’ clinical characteristics and psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) scores were recorded at each visit. The PASI90 and PASI100 responses and mean PASI scores were compared between the Bio-Naïve and Bio-Ex groups. @*Results@#Fifty-five Bio-Naïve patients and 17 Bio-Ex patients were included in the study. At week 20, there were no significant differences in the PASI90 (64.2% vs. 53.8%) and PASI100 (28.3% vs. 15.4%) responses between the groups. However, at weeks 36 and 44, the PASI90 response (week 36: 89.2% vs. 36.4% and week 44: 97.8% vs. 63.6%) and the PASI100 response (week 36: 64.9% vs. 18.2% and week 44: 68.9% vs. 27.3%) were significantly higher in the Bio-Naïve group (p＜0.05). There were no differences in PASI90 and PASI100 responses between the groups in terms of other clinical characteristics and comorbidities at week 20. @*Conclusion@#The efficacy of guselkumab remained consistent among patients in whom other biologics had failed. However, the efficacy was slightly lower in the Bio-Ex group than in the Bio-Naïve group.
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Desmoplastic Spitz nevus is a rare variant of Spitz nevus characterized by predominantly spindle-shaped or epithelioid nevus cells within the fibrotic stroma that can be confused with fibrous lesions. A 43-year-old woman presented with a 1-cm-sized dome-shaped papule on the dorsum of her left foot. The lesion showed histopathological features of a desmoplastic Spitz nevus with structures that resemble adenoma. Immunohistochemical staining was positive for S-100 protein, Melan-A, and SOX-10. Herein, we report this case because desmoplastic Spitz nevus is rare and can lead to confusion regarding the diagnosis of adnexal neoplasms.
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Background@#Risankizumab is a humanized immunoglobulin G1 monoclonal antibody that selectively binds to the p19 subunit of interleukin-23. Risankizumab has demonstrated rapid and excellent therapeutic effects in several clinical trials. Although a growing number of studies have reported data on the real-world efficacy and safety of risankizumab for the treatment of psoriasis, no such study has been conducted in Korea. @*Objective@#We evaluated the real-world efficacy and safety of risankizumab for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in Korean patients. @*Methods@#This was a retrospective single-center study. A total of 33 patients treated with risankizumab, for at least 16 weeks, were enrolled. Based on electronic medical records, the clinical characteristics, psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score, body surface area, and adverse events were investigated. @*Results@#The mean PASI score was significantly reduced at 4 weeks of risankizumab treatment (3.27±2.15) and gradually reduced at week 16 (1.06±0.97) and week 52 (0.24±0.63) (p＜0.05). At week 16, all patients achieved a PASI 75 response, and 66.7% and 27.3% of patients achieved PASI 90 and PASI 100 responses, respectively. Obese patients (body mass index, BMI≥25 kg/m2 ) showed a lower PASI 90 response than non-obese patients (BMI＜25 kg/m2 ) at week 16. Older patients (age≥65 years) showed significantly higher PASI scores than younger patients (age＜65 years) at week 16. Mild to moderate adverse events were reported in four patients; however, no patient discontinued treatment. @*Conclusion@#Risankizumab was very effective in a real-world clinical practice with a favorable safety profile in Korean patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis.
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Background@#Psoriasis is a chronic disease that can have accompanying comorbidities including arthritis, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases. Patients with psoriasis tend to frequently visit medical institutions, and their economic burden for medical services is high. @*Objective@#To investigate the economic burden of psoriasis in Korea. @*Methods@#The Korean Society for Psoriasis conducted a multi-center field survey of the patients and analyzed the national insurance claim data. Also, we discussed the medical environment of psoriasis in Korea based on the results. @*Results@#The economic burden of psoriasis patients is substantial and varied by the type of medical institute. Patients also paid the indirect and intangible medical costs. Biological agents, which is used in patients with severe psoriasis, led to an increase in the cost. @*Conclusion@#This is the first study to estimate the economic burden of psoriasis in Korea comprehensively. To improve the medical environment of psoriasis and alleviate the burden of patients, discussion on the more efficient health policy and medical insurance criteria for psoriasis would be needed.
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Background@#Psoriasis is a chronic disease that can have accompanying comorbidities including arthritis, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases. Patients with psoriasis tend to frequently visit medical institutions, and their economic burden for medical services is high. @*Objective@#To investigate the economic burden of psoriasis in Korea. @*Methods@#The Korean Society for Psoriasis conducted a multi-center field survey of the patients and analyzed the national insurance claim data. Also, we discussed the medical environment of psoriasis in Korea based on the results. @*Results@#The economic burden of psoriasis patients is substantial and varied by the type of medical institute. Patients also paid the indirect and intangible medical costs. Biological agents, which is used in patients with severe psoriasis, led to an increase in the cost. @*Conclusion@#This is the first study to estimate the economic burden of psoriasis in Korea comprehensively. To improve the medical environment of psoriasis and alleviate the burden of patients, discussion on the more efficient health policy and medical insurance criteria for psoriasis would be needed.
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Recently, biologic therapy has become a major advance in the management of moderate-to-severe psoriasis. Although the overall safety profile of biologics is favorable, primary infection or reactivation of latent tuberculosis (TB) is the major concern in the setting of tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitor therapy. Therefore, the treatment of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) before starting biologics is mandatory to prevent the reactivation of LTBI. A 27-year-old female was treated with adalimumab due to psoriasis. As latent TB was detected by the interferon-γ release assay, we started isoniazid treatment (300 mg/day) 3 weeks before starting adalimumab and maintained this for 6 months. Although the patient’s psoriatic skin lesions improved, after 45 weeks of adalimumab therapy, she visited the emergency department because of fever and back pain for 2 weeks. Abdominopelvic computed tomography (CT) and chest CT revealed multiple nodular lesions on both lungs, peritoneal wall, mesentery, and spleen, along with ascites. In the ascitic fluid, adenosine deaminase was increased to 96.4 U/L, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis grew in an acid-fast bacilli culture. The patient was diagnosed with disseminated TB and treated with conventional TB medication with discontinuation of adalimumab.Five months after the completion of TB treatment, the ustekinumab, an interleukin (IL)-12/IL-23 inhibitor, was administered. Until now, her skin lesions are under excellent control without reactivation of TB for 9 months after starting ustekinumab.
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Background@#Dental caries is the most prevalent chronic infectious oral disease of multifactorial etiology. Increased risk of dental caries development in patients with asthma and allergic rhinitis has been frequently reported. In contrast, only a few studies on dental caries in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) have been reported. @*Objective@#We investigated the association between AD and dental caries development in an adult population in the Republic of Korea. @*Methods@#A total of 21,606 adults who participated in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationwide, population-based, cross-sectional survey between 2010 and 2015, were included in the study. Multiple logistic regression analyses with confounder adjustment suggested odds ratios (ORs) to identify the possible association between AD and decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) experience compared to non-AD participants. Multiple Poisson regression analyses estimated the mean ratio of the DMFT index according to the presence of AD. @*Results@#After adjusting for various confounding factors, the prevalence of DMFT was significantly associated with AD (OR, 1.58; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.08∼2.29; p=0.017). In addition, the mean value of the DMFT index was significantly different between the AD and non-AD groups (mean ratio, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.00∼1.14; p= 0.046). @*Conclusion@#AD was significantly associated with the development of dental caries. Dermatologists should be aware of the dental manifestations of AD patients and recommend regular dental check-ups for the early detection of caries.
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Xanthelasma palpebrarum (XP) is the most common type of xanthoma. It is a benign condition characterized by bright yellowish plaque-like lesions that appear near the inner epicanthus showing symmetrical distribution. It may be accompanied with some familial lipoprotein disorders and systemic hyperlipidemia. A 28-year-old man visited our department with complaints of periorbital hyperpigmentation and linear yellow plaques along the bilateral upper and lower eyelids for 5 years. His father has hyperlipidemia. Laboratory investigations revealed an increase in low density lipoprotein-cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Histopathologic examination showed diffused infiltration of foamy cells and histiocytes in the upper dermis. The patient was diagnosed with XP based on the clinical and histopathological findings. XP usually present as yellow plaques on the upper eyelids. Here, we report a rare case of XP confined to the eyelines.
ABSTRACT
Hidroacanthoma simplex (HAS) is a rare benign intraepidermal neoplasm arising from the eccrine duct. Histologically, HAS exhibits the “Borst-Jadassohn phenomenon” and consists of intraepidermal cell nests, which resemble the features of clonal seborrheic keratosis. An 86-year-old woman presented a more than 10-year history of a 7.5 cm×5.6-cm brown verrucous plaque on her right pelvis. Histopathological examination showed intraepidermal clonal cell expansion of polygonal basaloid cells. The lesions were removed by CO2 laser, but polypoid papules recurred after 3 months. Histologic examination showed proliferation of polygonal basaloid cells with atypia and frequent mitosis. In addition, findings suggestive of syringofibroadenoma were observed. The tumor cells were positive for epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining. Based on these findings, we diagnosed the patient with HAS combined with variable eccrine tumors. Herein, we report a case of giant HAS combined with variable eccrine tumors showing a natural progression of eccrine tumors from HAS to eccrine porocarcinoma in situ.
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BACKGROUND: Recently, the number of nationwide medical researches on psoriasis using the National Health Insurance Service database has been on the rise. However, identification of psoriasis using diagnostic codes alone can lead to misclassification. Accuracy of the diagnostic codes and their concordance with medical records should be validated first to identify psoriasis patients correctly.OBJECTIVE: To validate the diagnostic codes of psoriasis (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision L40) and to find the algorithm for the identification of psoriasis.METHODS: We collected medical records of patients who received their first diagnostic codes of psoriasis during 5 years from five hospitals. Fifteen percent of psoriasis patients were randomly selected from each hospital. We performed a validation by reviewing medical records and compared 5 algorithms to identify the best algorithm.RESULTS: Total of 538 cases were reviewed and classified as psoriasis (n=368), not psoriasis (n=159), and questionable (n=11). The most accurate algorithm was including patients with ≥1 visits with psoriasis as primary diagnostic codes and prescription of vitamin D derivatives. Its positive predictive value was 96.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 93.9%~98.1%), which was significantly higher than those of the algorithm, including patients with ≥1 visits with psoriasis as primary diagnostic codes or including ≥1 visits with diagnostic codes of psoriasis (primary or additional) (91.0% and 69.8%). Sensitivity was 90.8% (95% CI, 87.2%~93.4%) and specificity was 92.5% (95% CI, 86.9%~95.9%).CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates a validated algorithm to identify psoriasis, which will be useful for the nationwide population-based study of psoriasis in Korea.
Subject(s)
Humans , Classification , Electronic Health Records , International Classification of Diseases , Korea , Medical Records , National Health Programs , Prescriptions , Psoriasis , Sensitivity and Specificity , Vitamin DABSTRACT
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Middle Aged , Diagnosis , Epithelium , Hemorrhage , Metaplasia , Onycholysis , PapillomaABSTRACT
Ectopic nails are rare and characterized by the growth of nail-like structures in a location other than the typical nail unit. Diagnosis of the ectopic nail is based on histologic examination consistent with a fully developed nail plate and matrix structure. Surgical resection of the entire matrix of ectopic nails is the gold standard for management.Cases of acquired ectopic nails without traumatic events have rarely been reported. A 25-year-old woman presented with a 15-year nail-like structure below the 4th fingernail of the left hand. She denied any history of trauma.Histologically, the keratinous structure was consistent with the nail plate. Plain radiography revealed an osteolytic lesion on the distal phalanx. However, she refused further evaluation and surgical excision. Herein, we report a unique case of an acquired ectopic nail without trauma.
ABSTRACT
Ectopic nails are rare and characterized by the growth of nail-like structures in a location other than the typical nail unit. Diagnosis of the ectopic nail is based on histologic examination consistent with a fully developed nail plate and matrix structure. Surgical resection of the entire matrix of ectopic nails is the gold standard for management.Cases of acquired ectopic nails without traumatic events have rarely been reported. A 25-year-old woman presented with a 15-year nail-like structure below the 4th fingernail of the left hand. She denied any history of trauma.Histologically, the keratinous structure was consistent with the nail plate. Plain radiography revealed an osteolytic lesion on the distal phalanx. However, she refused further evaluation and surgical excision. Herein, we report a unique case of an acquired ectopic nail without trauma.
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Dermatomyositis (DM) is an idiopathic inflammatory myopathy characterized by typical cutaneous manifestation and inflammation of the skeletal muscles. However, this progressive symmetric proximal muscle weakness may be minimal or absent in clinically amyopathic DM (CADM). Importantly, DM has been associated with malignancy, which is related to poor prognosis. Therefore, every newly diagnosed patient with DM should undergo thorough screening investigations for hidden internal malignancy. We report a case of CADM, with severe intractable itching, which was finally diagnosed as paraneoplastic dermatomyositis associated with gastric cancer in a 77-year-old woman. The patient had typical cutaneous features of DM and mild elevation of muscle enzymes without muscle weakness.
Subject(s)
Aged , Female , Humans , Dermatomyositis , Inflammation , Mass Screening , Muscle Weakness , Muscle, Skeletal , Myositis , Paraneoplastic Syndromes , Prognosis , Pruritus , Stomach NeoplasmsABSTRACT
Cheilitis granulomatosa (CG) is a subset of orofacial granulomatosis (OFG) and considered to be a monosymptomatic form of Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome (MRS), which is characterized by the triad of chronic lip swelling, facial paralysis, and fissured tongue. The labial swelling is thought to be associated with an orofacial swelling, which affects the chin, cheeks, and oral mucosa. Histologically, it is distinguished by noncaseating granulomas consisting of lymphohistiocytes and giant cells. Although systemic steroids with or without intralesional triamcinolone injections are the mainstay of treatment, and various agents have been proposed for this rare disease, no successful treatment modality has been reported in the literature yet. Herein, we present our experience with three different CG cases, which showed a varied level of positive response to the combination therapy.
Subject(s)
Cheek , Cheilitis , Chin , Facial Paralysis , Giant Cells , Granuloma , Granulomatosis, Orofacial , Lip , Melkersson-Rosenthal Syndrome , Mouth Mucosa , Rare Diseases , Steroids , Tongue, Fissured , TriamcinoloneABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Adverse cutaneous drug reactions (ACDRs) are common and are responsible for increased morbidity, mortality, and socioeconomic costs. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our study was to investigate the common drugs and clinical patterns related to ACDRs using an electronic drug adverse reaction reporting system at a single secondary referral center. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of the ACDR database between January 2014 and April 2016 at the Ilsan Paik Hospital. RESULTS: The study analyzed 320 patients with ACDRs (male:female ratio=93:227; mean age 50.8±17.8 years). Using a Korean causality evaluation algorithm, the percentage of drugs with a possible relationship with ACDRs was calculated to be 50.6%, while the percentage with a probable relationship was 44.7%. Antibiotics (44.0%), radiocontrast media (15.1%), and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (14.3%) were the most commonly implicated drugs. Antibiotics, including cephalosporins (30.6%) and quinolones (10.2%), were responsible for the majority of the ACDRs. Acetic acid (5.9%) and propionic acid (5.9%) derivatives of NSAIDs were also common causative agents. The most common clinical presentations were maculopapular exanthema (33.4%), pruritus (30.9%), and urticaria (25.7%). Severe ACDRs were significantly associated with older age, eosinophilia, and underlying heart and renal diseases (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Antibiotics, radiocontrast media, and NSAIDs were identified as common causes of ACDRs. Older age, eosinophilia, heart disease, and renal disease were associated with severe ACDRs.