Walking a day in a pachyonychia congenita patient's shoes: Impact on plantar pain and activity levels measured with wristband activity trackers.

Background Plantar keratoderma is a common finding in pachyonychia congenita, significantly impairing ambulation and quality of life. Due to the variation of pain reporting in pachyonychia congenita clinical studies, it is difficult to evaluate the efficacy of treatment outcomes for painful plantar keratodermas. Objectives To objectively analyse associations between plantar pain and activity levels in pachyonychia congenita patients using a wristband tracker. Methods Pachyonychia congenita patients and matched normal controls wore wristband activity trackers and completed a daily digital survey to record their highest and total pain scores (0-10 scale) each day for 28 consecutive days during four different seasons. Results Twenty four participants (12 pachyonychia congenita patients and 12 matched normal controls) completed the study. Pachyonychia congenita patients walked 1801.30 fewer steps/day (95% CI, -3666.4, 64.1) than normal controls (P = 0.072) and had greater average total [5.26; SD, 2.10] and highest (6.92; SD, 2.35) daily pain than normal controls [0.11 (SD, 0.47), 0.30 (SD, 0.22), respectively] (P < 0.001, both). On average, for each one unit increase in daily highest pain level, pachyonychia congenita activity decreased 71.54 steps/day (SE, 38.90, P = 0.066). Limitation The study had a small number of participants, limiting statistical power. Only pachyonychia congenita patients, ages 18 years or older, with keratin 6a, keratin 16, and keratin 17 mutations were included, limiting generalizability. Conclusion Pachyonychia congenita patients were less active with significantly higher pain than normal controls. There was an inverse correlation between pain and activity. Our findings suggest that wristband tracker technology may be used to evaluate treatment efficacy in future trials on severe plantar pain; therapeutic interventions that decrease plantar pain should correlate with significant increases in activity using wristband trackers.

A novel H1 mutation in keratin 6a in an infant with pachyonychia congenita.

UNLABELLED: Pachyonychia congenita (PC) is a rare genetic disorder which is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. We report a sporadic novel H1 mutation in the KRT6A gene (c. 428G>A/p.Ser143Asn) in a Chinese infant patient. The mutation is concurrent with a single-nucleotide polymorphism and resulted in a serine for asparagine substitution in H1 subdomain of KRT6A chain next to the rod domain. The infant showed the classic symptoms of pachyonychia congenita. CONCLUSION: The heterozygous missense mutation c. 428G > A/p.Ser143Asn in KRT6A exon 1 may cause severe disease.

Nails: diagnostic clue to genodermatoses.

Nails are cutaneous appendages mostly involved in mechanical functions. However, nails may reflect presence of various systemic disorders evidenced by alteration of their shape, size, color or texture. Genodermatoses are multisystem disorders with cutaneous involvement. Many of the genodermatoses present with nail changes and some of these may be the clinical pointers to the diagnosis. Diagnostic clues to various genodermatoses derived from nail findings have been discussed.

Pachyonychia congenita with woolly hair in a ten month old infant.

A 10-month-old female presented with severe progressive wedge-shaped thickening and discoloration of all twenty nails. Further evaluations revealed palmoplantar keratoderma along with recurrent acral blisters causing residual crusted ulcers which were present during the past six months. Other findings included scalp kinky hair and dental caries. Past medical and family history had remarkable findings such as natal teeth and similar skin lesions in her older brother since his infancy. The patients' clinical presentations and history are compatible with pachyonychia congenita presenting with concomitant features of both subtypes 1 and 2.