Efficacy of an emollient dermoprotective cream in the treatment of elderly skin affected by xerosis.

AIM: Xerosis cutis is a frequent condition in the elderly and the topical treatments are aimed to maintain a balance between the physiological components of the epidermis and an optimal moisturization. The aim was to evaluate the efficacy of a dermoprotective cream, glycerol and paraffin-based, in the treatment of individuals affected by senile xerosis. METHODS: The patients were recruited at the Professional Dermatology and Allergology Outpatient Clinic of the San Gallicano Dermatological Institute of Rome, between 1st January 2013 and 30th September 2014. To assess the efficacy of the cream, two different areas of treatment were identified in each patient upper the limbs. All patients were staged at baseline (T0) and evaluated after 14 days (T1) and 28 days (T2) of topical treatment, using five clinical parameters: scaling, sensation of skin tightness, presence of fissuring and excoriations from scratching and erythema. The itching degree was also evaluated using a 10-steps analogical scale. RESULTS: Fifty patients with xerosis, 25 with a severe and 25 with a moderate form, over 60 were recruited and evaluated. Median age was 65 years (IQR=61-70). After 28 day of topical administration of the cream, the 54.0% of patients showed the absence of signs of xerosis, the 44.0% a mild form and the 2.0% (one patient) a moderate form. Consistently, a progressive and significative reduction of itching and transepidermal water loss (TEWL), and an improvement in skin hydration was also measured. A good profile of tolerability and no episodes of undesirable side effects, was also observed. CONCLUSION: The topical daily use of a cream glycerol and paraffin-based, seem to able to control the xerosis in elderly patients, with a significant reduction of all associated signs and symptoms. Further additional data should be collected to better confirm the role of the topical treatment in the control of disease.

Association between autoimmune disease and cutaneous melanoma with regard to melanoma prognosis.

BACKGROUND: An association between autoimmune disease and malignant melanoma (MM) has often been reported in the literature as a positive prognostic factor for MM. Consequently, we evaluated the influence of different autoimmune diseases on the prognosis of MM. AIM: To evaluate the prognosis of patients with MM who also had an autoimmune disorder, whether tumour-associated, paraneoplastic or drug-induced. METHODS: Autoimmune diseases were classified and analysed as tumour-associated, paraneoplastic or drug-induced. Patients were enrolled according to their clinicopathological features and matched with control groups. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to estimate disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS), and log-rank test was used to evaluate differences between the survival curves. RESULTS: In total, 49 patients with MM and tumour-associated autoimmune disease were included in our analysis. No case of paraneoplastic autoimmune disease was detected. The survival analyses showed a range of results, from a worsening of DFS and OS to a lack of any difference. In a second analysis, we separately analysed patients who developed autoimmune disorders after starting adjuvant therapy with interferon-α; we did not find significant differences between these patients and the untreated patients. CONCLUSIONS: Autoimmune disease, whether tumour-associated or drug-induced, was not associated with better prognosis in patients with MM. The results suggest that the reported relationship between autoimmunity and MM may be a result of individual variation in sensitivity to the autoimmune disease, the tumour or the treatments.

Basal cell carcinomas in a young woman with Steinert's disease.

Steinert's disease or Myotonic dystrophy type I (DM1) is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by myotonia, muscular dystrophy, cataracts, hypogonadism, frontal balding, and electrocardiographic alterations.Several tumors have been associated with DM1 such as pilomatricoma, thymomas and insulinomas. Herein, we describe the unusual onset of multiple basal cell carcinomas in a young woman with DM1.

Melanoma and IFN alpha: potential adjuvant therapy.

Interferon alpha (IFNalpha) is the most used adjuvant treatment in clinical practice for melanoma (MEL) high-medium risk patients; however, the use of IFNalpha has yielded conflicting data on Overall Survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) rates. Starting from these considerations, we carried out an analysis on our MEL patients who received adjuvant IFNalpha therapy, in order to identify possible predictors for their outcome. A total of 140 patients were included in our analysis. Patients with Breslow thickness ≤2.00 mm presented a significantly longer mean DFS than patients with Breslow ≥2.01 mm (p = 0.01). Using non- parametric Spearman’s Coefficient test we found association between DFS and Breslow thickness (p < 0.001) and between DFS and ulceration (p = 0.03). Performing Multiple Regression test, Breslow thickness (p < 0.001) remained the only statistically significant predictor. From the OS analysis we found that patients with lower Breslow values ≤ 2.00 mm (p < 0.0001), and absence of ulceration (p <0.004) showed a significantly better long-term survival. From the current analysis we found that the use of low dose IFNalpha is justified only for cutaneous melanoma ≤ 4.01 mm that was not ulcerated; patients with Breslow ≥ 4.01 mm, in our opinion, should not carry out adjuvant treatment with low dose IFNalpha, because its side effects could be higher than the its benefits.