Report of 16 cases of eosinophilic fasciitis with literature review / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective We reported 16 eosinophilic fasciitis (EF) patients with eosinophilic fasciitis and performed a systematic review of the literature to improve the disease awareness.Methods The clinical course of 16 patients with eosinophilic fasciitis at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital were described,inclu-ding demographic data,clinical manifest-ations,laboratory tests,pathology and treatment.Results The mean age at diagnosis was (47±8) years,with 13 female and 3 male patients.Three cases had exertion or strenuous sports before the onset of EF.Positive ANA was noted in 6 of 12,positive RF was noted in 3 of 10,hyper-gammaglobulinemia was noted in 6 of 7,elevated IgG was noted in 8 of 13,peripheral blood eosinophilia was noted in 10 of 16,while thrombocytopenia was found in one patient.Conclusion Based on this and other reported cases in the literature,EF may be a kind of autoimmune disease.Genetic influence and environ-mental factors are involved in the development of this disease.Systemic involvement is rare.In general,corticosteroids and immunosuppressive are effective in EF.