Maria Antonia Montesu

Classical Kaposi's sarcoma in north-east Sardinia: An overview from 1977 to 1991

The incidence of classical Kaposis sarcoma in 1977-91 was studied in north-east Sardinia. In this period, 160 new cases were observed in a defined area, of which 124 were in males. This represented a standardised incidence of the disease of 1.58/100,000 inhabitants per year (2.43 for males and 0.77 for females). This is the highest incidence of classical Kaposis sarcoma so far recorded. The incidence increased with age, particularly after the age of 70 in males.

HLA antigen distribution in different clinical subgroups demonstrates genetic heterogeneity in lichen planus.

Summary HLA‐A, B, Cw, DR and DQ antigens were serologically determined in 105 patients suffering from lichen planus (LP). Of these patients, 87 had idiopathic LP and 18 had secondary LP. In the first group, 43 had cutaneous LP without mucosal lesions, 17 had cutaneous LP with mucosal lesions and 27 had purely mucosal LP. No HLA antigen was found to be significantly associated with secondary LP or with mucosal idiopathic LP. In cutaneous idiopathic LP with or without mucosal lesions, the HLA‐DR1 and DQ1 antigen frequency was significantly increased, and that of HLA‐DQ3 significantly decreased. Among the HLA‐DR1 cutaneous idiopathic LP patients, 78.5% carried the DRB1*0101 allele, and 214% the DRBI*0102 allele, compared with 35.7 and 67.8%, respectively, of the HLA‐DR1 controls. Our data demonstrate that idiopathic LP is influenced by HLA‐associated genetic susceptibility and resistance factors not involved in secondary LP, and that cutaneous idiopathic LP is a genetically and therefore pathogenetically different condition from purely mucosal idiopathic LP.

Lichen planus in children: a case report.

Abstract: Lichen planus (LP) Is rare in children. A review of the literature reveals that it has some peculiarities with respect to sex, localization, clinical aspect, race, and family history. We present an Indian child with the documented peculiarities of infantile LP. A comparison of LP and graft‐versus‐host disease points to the Importance of thymic Involution in the pathogenesis of the former, which could explain the rarity of this disorder In infants.

The role of occupation and a past history of malaria in the etiology of classic Kaposi's sarcoma: a case-control study in north-east Sardinia

A case-control study was performed to determine the role of rural factors including occupation and previous malaria exposure in the development of classic Kaposis sarcoma (CKS) in a high incidence area of Europe. The occurrence of CKS association with other malignancies was also examined. The results showed that the risk of having CKS was significantly increased in subjects farming cereals, while a previous history of malaria did not influence the risk of developing CKS. A near-significant increase in associated tumours was found.

Skin reaction in antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis C: A role for polyethylene glycol interferon?

In the past decade, different modalities of antiviral therapy have been adopted aimed at eradicating hepatitis C virus infection. Initially, interferon was used in monotherapy, then interferon combined with ribavirin and amantadine. Recently, interferon has been conjugated with polyethylene glycol to allow optimization of its pharmacokinetic properties and to improve its antiviral activity. This study focused on the characteristics of the skin reactions that we observed in 27 patients with naïve hepatitis C who received polyethylene glycol interferon-ribavirin-amantadine or polyethylene glycol interferon-ribavirin and in 10 previous non-responders to interferon monotherapy who were retreated with triple therapy. In 9 patients (7 on triple therapy) dermatitis-like lesions were observed, and in 5 the severity of the lesions necessitated withdrawal from therapy.

Lichen planus on the palms and soles

Case reports Five cases of palm and sole lichen planus (LP) taken from our series of 263 cases observed from 1985 to date are reported.

Kaposi's sarcoma associated with treatment with adalimumab

A 61-year-old man, born and residing in Sardinia, came to our observation in March 2009 because of the appearance of purplish-red papulonodular lesions, located on his feet and hands. In addition, there was an isolated papule located on the distal portion of the lower right leg. The past medical history highlighted that the patient has been affected by rheumatoid arthritis since 2005, treated with leflunomide and methylprednisolone.

Lichen myxedematosus associated with chronic hepatitis C: a case report.

Sir, Lichen myxedematosus (LM) is a rare pathology, described for the ® rst time by Dubreuilh (1) in 1906, characterized by the accumulation of mucinous material in the dermis, with no disorder in the thyroid gland, and usually associated with paraproteinemia. In 1953, Montgomery & Underwood (2) classi® ed LM into 4 clinical types: (1) a generalized lichenoid eruption, later denominated scleromyxedema; (2) a discrete papular form; (3) localized-to-generalized lichenoid plaques; and (4) urticarial plaques and nodular eruptions that usually evolve into the lichenoid form. We describe here a case of discrete papular LM in a patient affected by virus C hepatopathy.

Amicrobial pustular dermatosis of the folds and Dapsone syndrome on treatment: a case report

Amicrobial pustolosis of the folds (APF) is a recently described, relapsing, primary aseptic pyoderma involving predominantly the cutaneous folds and the scalp and is often associated with autoimmune diseases or immunological abnormalities. We describe such a case in a lupus erythematous patient under corticosteroid therapy.

Rare diseases with skin involvement: a retrospective study (1996–2008)

The dermatologist’s role as a front-line medical practitioner in the field of rare diseases is a fundamental one. He actually comes up against rare diseases not only among dermatological disorders per se but also because skin lesions may sometimes reflect an underlying disorder and patients can often be referred from other medical departments. The present work comprises a retrospective data collection on patients with rare diseases in admission and outpatients seen in the Department of Dermatology operative unit (OU), University of Sassari, from January 1996 to December 2008. For this research, we used the rare diseases list under the Italian Health Ministry’s Ministerial Decree no. 279.2001, comprising 583 diseases.