Clinical characteristics analysis and literature review of 55 cases with panniculitis / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To improve the clinical understanding of the disease by retrospective analysing 55 cases of patients with panniculitis. Methods The hospitalized patients with panniculitis were collected from December 2011 to October 2018 in the Shanxi Dayi Hospital Affiliated to Shanxi Medical University. The demographics, clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations and treatments were analyzed and summarized, rate or composition ratio were applied for statistical description of the counting data. Results The proportion of males and females in the 55 patients was 12.23, with an average of (53±15) years (18-82 years). A total of 52 cases of nodular panniculitis (including 14 cases of mesenteric involvement) and 3 cases of special type of panniculitis were collected. Patients with nodular panniculitis were often presented with subcutaneous nodules or masses. According to the affected parts, they cowld be divided into skin sub-type and systemic sub-type. Among them, 32 cases were skin sub-type and 20 cases are systemic sub-type. The most frequently involved organs were mesenteric and kidney involvement. Nine of 55 patients was complicated with tumor. Patients with mesenteric panniculitis mainly presented with abdominal pain and bloating, which were mainly diagnosed according to CT findings. Patients with systemic panniculitis could be significantly relieved after treatment with coricosteroids and immunosuppressive agents. Conclusion Panniculitis is an inflammatory disease of unknown etiology. It is frequent in middle-aged and elderly people. It presents with various clinical manifestations and lacks specificity. The diagnosis is mainly based on pathological results. It is easy to be complicated with tumors. When subcutaneous nodules are found, pathological examination should be performed in order to avoid misdiagnosis.