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European Journal of Dermatology

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Erythroderma: A clinical-etiological study of 82 cases Volume 20, numéro 3, May-June 2010

Auteurs
Department of Dermatology, No.1 Hospital of China Medical University, 155N. Nanjing St. Shenyang 110001, PR China, Department of Dermatology, the General Hospital of the Air Force, Beijing 1000142, PR China, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China

Erythroderma is an uncommon skin disorder characterized by generalized reddening and scaling of over 90% of the skin. It represents a maximal stage of skin irritation induced by several skin diseases such as psoriasis, contact dermatitis, drug reactions, and mycosis fungoides. Data including the clinical symptoms, laboratory examinations and skin biopsies were collected from 82 erythroderma patients admitted to our hospital in the period between Jan.1st, 2003 and Dec.31st, 2008. According to clinical findings, laboratory findings and biopsy results, the most common causative factors were pre-existing dermatoses (72.0%), followed by drug reactions (17.0%), idiopathic causes (6.1%) and malignancies (4.9%). Among the pre-existing dermatoses, psoriasis is the most common etiology (30.5%). We also found hypereosinophilic syndrome, sarcoidosis and dermatomyositis could be causes of erythroderma. In the drug-induced group, Chinese traditional herbal medicines were probably the most frequently implicated drugs in our series, with 9 of the 14 cases (64.3%). Follow-up information was obtained for 65 patients, and most of our patients had improved symptoms after treatment. In our series we found a high percentage of erythroderma secondary to pre-existing dermatoses and a low percentage of erythroderma secondary to malignancy. Among drugs as an etiological group, Chinese traditional herbal medicines were the most frequent drugs. From our follow-up study, the prognosis of most patients with erythroderma is relatively good.