Six-year follow-up of vitiligo patients successfully treated with autologous non-cultured melanocyte-keratinocyte transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Although autologous non-cultured melanocyte-keratinocyte transplantation is a treatment option for stable vitiligo, there is lack of long-term maintenance data for this specific treatment. OBJECTIVE: To search for factors associated with long-term maintenance of patients with stable vitiligo successfully treated with melanocyte-keratinocyte transplantation. METHODS: This was a single-centre retrospective study including stable vitiligo patients who underwent successful melanocyte-keratinocyte transplantation in the National Center for Vitiligo, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between 1 January 2004 and 30 June 2015. Cox proportional hazard model was used to estimate factors associated with relapse at 6 years of followup. Co-variates included, gender, type of vitiligo, age at vitiligo onset, age at surgical procedure, disease duration, disease stability, affected body surface area, treated surface area, fingertip involvement, type of recipient area treatment and recurrence defined as the onset of new lesions on previously untreated areas. The risk of developing relapse defined as re-appearance of more than 10% depigmentation in a previously treated and repigmented site was considered as the main outcome. RESULTS: In total, 602 patients were included in the study of whom 410 (67%) were women. Mean age was 24.25 years [4.0-67.0]. Affected body surface area of less than 1% (adjusted HR = 0.37; P = 0.04) and mechanical dermabrasion (adjusted HR = 0.26; P = 0.03) were independently associated with lower rates of relapse. On the contrary, non-segmental type of vitiligo (adjusted HR = 2.11; P = 0.03) and fingertip involvement (adjusted HR = 3.75; P = 0.01) were independently associated with higher rates of relapse. CONCLUSIONS: Criteria for selecting patients with stable vitiligo for surgery should include careful assessment of vitiligo type including body surface area of vitiligo and involvement of fingertip before undergoing surgical procedure.

Hypochromic vitiligo: delineation of a new entity.

BACKGROUND: Hypochromic vitiligo is a rare entity that has been reported only twice under the term 'vitiligo minor', with an absence of clear delineation. OBJECTIVES: To delineate hypochromic vitiligo through a case series of patients with typical bilateral hypopigmented lesions affecting the face and trunk. METHODS: This is a retrospective multicentric evaluation study conducted in eight departments of dermatology in France, Belgium, Senegal and Saudi Arabia. RESULTS: Twenty-four cases of hypochromic vitiligo were identified. Fourteen were men and 10 women. The mean age at diagnosis was 35·4 years (range 8-66). Strikingly, all patients were dark skinned, with skin types V and VI. The pattern of distribution was highly similar in most of the patients (18 of 24), with involvement of the face and neck area predominating on seborrhoeic areas associated with multiple isolated hypopigmented macules involving predominantly the scalp. The retrospective nature of this study is its main limitation. CONCLUSIONS: Hypochromic vitiligo is not yet part of a conventional classification. The disease seems to be limited to individuals with dark skin types. Hypopigmented seborrhoeic face and neck involvement associated with hypopigmented macules of the trunk and scalp is the hallmark of the disease.

[Intestinal plastic surgery of the ureter].

Intestinal plastic surgery for ureteral stricture was made in 25 patients (10 unilateral and 15 bilateral strictures). Stricture of the lower third of both ureters was primarily second to operations for colorectal cancer, urinary bladder diverticulesis and scars after radiotherapy. Unilateral strictures resulted from postradiation changes in 9 patients and a shotgun wound of the ureter in 1 patient. Grafts of an isolated segment of the ileum and the vermiform process on the mesentery were transplanted in 22 and 3 patients, respectively. Postoperative intestinal ileus was observed only in one patient who was treated with relaparotomy, intestinal intubation and abdominal drainage. Another patient was reoperated for failure of ureteroappendicoanastomosis. The results of the reoperations were successful. No lethal outcomes were recorded. Upon 0.5-7 year follow-up, all the patients restored normal urodynamics and function of the affected kidney. Thus, use of an isolated segment of the small intestine ensures repair of the defects of one or both the ureters of any location and length. Intestinal repair in extended ureteral lesion is an operation of choice as it reestablishes urine outflow from the kidney, improves its function, relieves symptoms of chronic pyelonephritis and puts away continuous renal and ureteral fistulas.

Treatment of vitiligo lesions by ReCell vs. conventional melanocyte-keratinocyte transplantation: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Surgical procedures are indicated to treat stable vitiligo, refractory to medical treatment. In addition to conventional surgical techniques, noncultured cellular grafting is gaining wider acceptance among dermatologists. OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy of the ReCell kit (Clinical Cell Culture, Cambridge, U.K.) and to compare it with conventional melanocyte-keratinocyte transplantation (MKT) for the treatment of vitiligo. METHODS: Ten lesions in five patients at the same anatomical localization (left vs. right, or two separate lesions at the same anatomical location) were treated with ReCell and conventional MKT and repigmentation compared at 4 months post-transplantation. RESULTS: Of the five lesions treated with ReCell two lesions showed 100%, one 65% and one 40% repigmentation, and one lesion failed to repigment. Of the five lesions treated by conventional MKT three showed 100% and one 30% repigmentation and one failed to repigment. CONCLUSIONS: ReCell may be an effective method to treat vitiligo. Studies on larger series of patients are required to confirm its efficacy. Further research is required to establish the effective dilution of the cell suspension.