Cyclophosphamide therapy for corticoresistant drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) syndrome in a patient with severe kidney and eye involvement and Epstein-Barr virus reactivation.

DRESS (drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms) syndrome is a severe adverse drug reaction with significant mortality, characterized by erythroderma, fever, lymphadenopathy, and visceral involvement. We report a case of multivisceral DRESS syndrome with posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy and acute tubulointerstitial nephritis responsible for dialysis-dependent acute kidney failure in the context of reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus infection. Because of resistance of the skin and kidney manifestations to prolonged corticosteroid therapy, a 6-month course of oral cyclophosphamide resulted in complete recovery of all symptoms. To our knowledge, this is the first case showing the efficacy of cyclophosphamide in severe DRESS syndrome.