RESUMO
Atopic dermatitis [AD] is a chronic relapsing eczematous skin disease. It represents one of the symptoms of atopic diathesis. DA affects usually infants and children. The aim of our study is to draw up the epidemiological, clinical features, treatment and outcome of severe childhood AD through a hospital series. A retrospective study of 24 cases of severe childhood AD hospitalized in the Dermatology Department of La Rabta hospital of Tunis was conducted during a 28 year-period [1981 - 2009]. The hospital incidence of severe childhood AD was 0,085. Patient's mean age at the beginning was 14 months. The sex ratio H/F was 1.66. Cutaneous manifestations occurred preferentially in face [75%]. Generalized eczema was observed in 37.5% of cases. Pruritus and xerosis were constant. The mean duration of hospitalization was 11 days. Topical corticosteroids was the most effective method of treating severe DA, associated with antiseptic solutions emollient and antihistaminic drugs. Infectious complications were noted in 50% of cases. Ocular complications were observed in 16.7% of cases. Recurrences were reported in 9 cases. AD is an inflammatory, chronically relapsing, and pruritic skin disorder developing in a xerotic skin. Severe AD in childhood is rare in Tunisia. It requires a good understanding of therapeutic modalities by the patient and his family. It is a cause of important morbidity and it may have a bad impact on quality of life
RESUMO
Depilatory radiotherapy was used in the sixties as a treatment for ringworm in Tunisia. Subsequently some of these patients developed radio-induced carcinomas of the scalp. To present the epidemiological, clinical, pathological, therapeutic features and out come of radio-induced cutaneous carcinomas. We conducted a retrospective study performed in the dermatology department of the La Rabta hospital of Tunis over a 6- year-period recording all histologically confirmed carcinomas in patients irradiated in childhood for tinea capitis. Thirty one patients were included with 49 tumors: 47 basal cell carcinomas and 2 squamous cell carcinomas. The average latent period between the irradiation and the appearance of the carcinomas was of 35.7 years. The average age was 53 years. A male predominance was noted, with a sex ratio M/F of 6.75. Clinically, basal cell carcinomas were nodular in all cases. Surgery was indicated in 90% of cases. Cryosurgery and radiotherapy were used respectively in 1 and 2 patients. Our study shows that radio-induced cutaneous carcinomas are widely dominated by basal cell carcinoma. They arise, approximately, ten years earlier than carcinoma in patients with no history of scalp irradiation. However X-ray exposure does not seem to influence clinical or histological presentation, therapeutic modalities nor prognosis of these tumors. The prognosis of radioinduced cutaneous carcinomas was globally similar to that of other cutaneous carcinomas with same histological type and equivalent degree of invasion