Dermatology Medical Education: A Multicenter Survey Study of the Undergraduate Perspective of the Dermatology Clinical Clerkship.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Limited data are available regarding the undergraduate dermatology clinical clerkship curriculum in the United States. Our primaryaim is to assess medical students' perspectives of the dermatology clinical clerkship. METHODS: A multicenter survey study was conducted, which included four California dermatology academic programs. A 17-item questionnaire was designed to investigate medical student perception with regard tothe overall educational value of the various teaching aspects of the dermatology clinical clerkship. RESULTS: A total of 152 medical student surveys were completed. Over half of the medical students felt proficient in diagnosing the most commondermatologic conditions. Eighty-seven percent of medical students were very satisfied with the dermatology clerkship. Ninety-one percent of students felt the length of the clerkship was appropriate. CONCLUSIONS: The vast majority of medical students reported a high level of proficiency in the treatment and diagnosis of common skin disorders. In contrast, our findings suggest that medical students may not begaining sufficient hands-on experience in conducting certain dermatologic procedures following the dermatology clerkship. Overall, medical studentperception of the dermatology clinical clerkship was mostly positive.

Differentiated (simplex) vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia: a case report and review of the literature.

Differentiated (simplex) vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN) is an uncommon variant of VIN characterized by highly differentiated morphology, making it a potential diagnostic pitfall. It may arise in the background of lichen sclerosus, and unlike most VIN, is not causally associated with human papilloma virus infection. It occurs in an older demographic and is thought to be the precursor of aggressive, invasive vulvar squamous cell carcinoma. For this reason, the timely and accurate diagnosis of this unusual lesion is crucial. The clinical and histologic features of a case of a 70-year-old woman with newly diagnosed differentiated (simplex) VIN arising in a background of long-standing lichen sclerosus is reported, and the historic aspects, current terminology, and diagnostic criteria of differentiated (simplex) VIN are reviewed.

Alefacept for erosive lichen planus: a case series.

INTRODUCTION: Erosive mucosal lichen planus is thought to be an autoimmune disease mediated by increased T-cell activation and proliferation. Alefacept is a biologic agent that selectively targets memory T cells. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the preliminary efficacy and safety of alefacept in the treatment of moderate to severe mucosal LP. METHODS: Seven subjects were randomly selected to receive either alefacept 15 mg or placebo every week for 12 weeks. Endpoints of the case series were the Physician Global Assessment (PGA) of disease severity, mucosal pain (MP) severity, and itch severity (IS). Both subjects and investigators were blinded. RESULTS: Two of the subjects receiving alefacept achieved significant improvement during the study. There were no serious adverse events during the course of the study period. CONCLUSIONS: In this small case series, alefacept may have conferred a modest therapeutic response in erosive lichen planus (LP). Larger multicenter prospective studies will be needed to determine whether alefacept can improve erosive LP in a statistically significant way.

Etiology and pathogenesis of necrolytic migratory erythema: review of the literature.

CONTEXT: Necrolytic migratory erythema (NME) is a characteristic skin condition seen in the presence of a pancreatic glucagonoma. The presence of NME in the absence of a pancreatic tumor has been termed the pseudoglucagonoma syndrome. In such cases, NME is commonly associated with conditions, such as liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis, malabsorption disorders (ie, celiac sprue), and other malignancies. There are many theories on the pathogenesis of NME, which include the direct action of glucagon in inducing skin necrolysis, hypoaminoacidemia-inducing epidermal protein deficiency and necrolysis, a nutritional or metabolic deficiency of zinc or essential fatty acids, liver disease, glucagon induction of inflammatory mediators, a substance secreted from pancreatic and other visceral tumors associated with NME, and generalized malabsorption. OBJECTIVE: To present a review of the literature on the clinical presentation, etiology, pathogenesis, and treatment of NME. DESIGN: Review of the literature on NME occurring in patients both with and without a pancreatic glucagonoma. METHODS: We performed a PubMed review of the literature on the etiology and pathogenesis of NME to identify case reports and reviews published in both the internal medicine and dermatology literature. RESULTS: Our literature review encompassed 17 primary case reports and literature reviews published in the dermatologic and internal medicine literature on NME in patients both with and without a pancreatic glucagonoma. Although we found no clear consensus among the investigators of a universally accepted pathogenesis for NME, we did identify 4 main categories of etiologic/pathogenetic mechanisms for NME (glucagon excess, nutritional deficiencies, inflammatory mediators, and liver disease) that were discussed by many of the investigators and validated by both clinical and scientific evidence. CONCLUSION: The exact pathogenesis and treatment of NME remain ill-defined despite many case reports and studies on NME in the literature. The many systemic diseases and nutritional deficiencies that have been found to be associated with NME suggest a multifactorial model for the pathogenesis of the disease. The most comprehensive, postulated mechanism for NME involves a combination of zinc, amino acid, and fatty acid deficiencies (arising from a wide variety of causes, such as dietary insufficiency, malabsorption syndromes, liver disease, elevated glucagon levels, and disorders of metabolism) that contributes to increased inflammation in the epidermis in response to trauma and to the necrolysis observed in NME. The importance of gaining an understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of NME lies in the fact that there is no universally accepted mechanism of pathogenesis for NME, and that the only treatment reported to resolve the rash in these patients is to adequately identify and treat the underlying associated systemic condition or nutritional deficiency.