Effect of Diet in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria: A Systematic Review.

Strategies for diets in chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) are controversial. This systematic review assessed the interest in diet for managing CSU. We searched for original reports in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL and LILACS. Among the 278 reports screened, 20 were included, involving 1,734 patients. Reports described 3 types of systematic diet: pseudoallergen-free diet (n = 1,555 patients), low-histamine diet (n = 223) and diet without fish products (n = 47), which induced complete remission in 4.8%, 11.7% and 10.6% of patients, respectively, and partial remission in 37.0%, 43.9% and 4.3%. Eight reports described personalized exclusion diets (66 patients) adapted to symptoms/allergological test results and led to complete remission in 74.6% of patients, although the diagnosis of CSU was doubtful. No comparative randomized studies of diets were available. The only randomized studies were based on oral provocation tests with the suspected responsible diet. Population and outcomes were heterogeneous. In conclusion, there is evidence for the benefit of diets in CSU only in individual patients with clinical symptoms. However, the level of evidence is low for the benefit of systematic diets in CSU because systematic double-blind controlled trials of diet are lacking.

Primary cutaneous ganglioneuroma: anatomico-clinical study of 4 cases with focus on Merkel cells.

Cutaneous ganglioneuromas (CGNs) are exceptional. We aim to describe the anatomico-clinical profile of primary CGN and report 4 cases. Patients were 2 men and 2 women aged 53 to 76 years, who had flesh-colored nodules on the back, associated with adjacent keratotic changes, that is, epidermal nevus (1 case) or seborrheic keratosis (3 cases). Histopathology showed ganglion cells within a proliferation of Schwann cells. The epidermis was acanthotic, associated with sebaceous induction in 2 cases, with follicular hyperplasia as in fibroepithelial tumors (1 case) or with tricholemmoma (2 cases). Cytokeratin-20 immunostaining showed Merkel cells in the epidermis. A higher density of Merkel cells was observed in BerEP4+ follicular structures. Along with 16 published cases, our study indicates that a nodule associated with seborrheic keratosis on the back may represent a CGN, a complex mesenchymal and epidermal/follicular lesion of neuroectodermal lineage, associating neuronal proliferation and Merkel cell hyperplasia with follicular induction.

Tattooing and psoriasis: a case series and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Koebner phenomenon (KP) affects from a quarter to a third of the patients with psoriasis and can occur on tattoos MATERIAL AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed a case series of seven tattooed patients with an isomorphic response on their tattoos or partial psoriasis patches on their tattoos. We collected the demographic data, the past history of psoriasis, the clinical presentation, and the outcomes. We also performed a review of the literature. We tried to classify the different clinical profile of KP/psoriasis on tattoos accordingly. RESULTS: Six men and one woman with a median age of 36 ± 6.4 years old were included. Five disclosed a KP in a recent tattoo within days to 1 month after its completion. Fifteen additional cases were collected from the literature (8 men, median age 22 ± 8.2 years old). The delay of psoriasis flare-up after tattooing was rather short, from a few weeks to several months. We found a high variability in the clinical presentation with five clinical subtypes/profiles of psoriasis on tattoos. A possible confusion between "genuine" KP on tattoos and the coincidental occurrence of psoriasis patches on tattoos is possible in some cases of the literature. Patients were mainly managed locally, rarely by systemic treatments or biologics. CONCLUSION: Koebner phenomenon on tattoos may occur in patients with psoriasis under various forms. The evolution is benign, and psoriasis is not a contraindication for tattooing, but patients need proper counseling before getting tattooed.