A Manifestation of Ulcerative Colitis During Treatment for Severe Plaque Psoriasis with Ixekizumab - A Report of Two Cases and Review of the Literature.

L-17 inhibitors belong to the group of the most effective and highly safe biological preparations intended for the treatment of psoriasis, and in the case of secukinumab and ixekizumab, also for the treatment of some immune-mediated inflammatory diseases of the joints. Despite initial expectations, they did not prove to be effective for the treatment of non-specific bowel inflammations (IBD). On the contrary, IBD worsening was reported in some cases where IL-17 inhibitors were used, and registration studies were terminated for this indication. In clinical studies, extensive meta-analyses of IL-17 inhibitor use for psoriasis and joint inflammation indications generally did not demonstrate any statistically significant increase in the risk of de-novo IBD with this type of treatment. Data from real-time practice are mostly similar. The literature describes individual cases with an obvious relation of de novo IBD development subsequent to treatment with IL-17 inhibitors in registered indications. The activation of latent, thus far clinically asymptomatic bowel inflammation is usually expected. Therefore, a careful review of medical history focused on bowel problems in personal and family history is necessary before starting therapy with IL-17 inhibitors. We present a similar experience with de novo onset of ulcerative colitis in two patients treated for psoriasis with ixekizumab, with associated psoriatic arthritis in one case.

Infrared thermography and capillaroscopy in the diagnosis of Raynaud's phenomenon.

AIMS: Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) is a relatively common disease. There are two distinct forms of RP - primary (PRP), where no other associated diseases are present, and secondary (SRP), where RP is associated with other diseases. It can be challenging to differentiate between RP and other diseases through medical history alone, due to the episodic nature of RP. Objective analysis of anamnestic data was performed in our study using infrared thermography (IRT) and a cold pressor test (CPT). Capillaroscopy was performed to assess morphological changes in the acral circulation. METHODS: Patients with a history of cold hands were included in the study. IRT was performed before and after the CPT, and then capillaroscopy was performed. The results (including epidemiologic data) were statistically evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 150 patients were included in the study. Summarisation of the results from the IRT and capillaroscopy determined the final diagnosis - 4.7% acrocyanosis, 10.7% physiologic findings, 31.3% PRP, 29.3% borderline SRP and 24% SRP. The coldest fingers following the CPT were, in most patients, the 2nd and 3rd fingers. The correlation between the presence of connective tissue disease and the diagnosis of borderline SRP and SRP was significant (P=0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Using the combination of the IRT and capillaroscopy in the diagnostic algorithm for RP has its justification. IRT distinguishes healthy patients from patients with RP, and capillaroscopy can then be used to differentiate PRP from SRP. IRT can also detect which fingers are more affected, and then these can direct the focus of capillaroscopy.

Cutaneous bacillary angiomatosis due to Bartonella quintana in a renal transplant recipient.

Bacillary angiomatosis (BA) is a disorder of neovascular proliferation involving skin and other organs of immunosuppressed patients caused by Bartonella species. BA has been recognized in both immunocompetent and immunodeficient patients, mostly in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected persons, much more rare in those with other immunodeficiencies, including organ transplantation. Diagnosis is based on serologic analysis, culture and molecular biology [detection of Bartonella species deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in tissue biopsy extracts by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR)]. All immunosuppressed patients with BA should be treated with antibiotics because of potentially life-threatening course of the disease. We report the first case of cutaneous bacillary angiomatosis due to Bartonella quintana in renal transplant recipient. This presentation demonstrates that BA should be considered a differential diagnosis in immunocompromised patients presenting with fever and cutaneous angioma-like lesions.

Risk of sympathectomy after anterior and lateral lumbar interbody fusion procedures.

AIM: The aim of this study was to identify retrospectively, lumbar sympathectomy (SE) using thermography (TG) and to evaluate clinically, the severity of post-sympathectomy (post-SE) dysfunction after anterior and lateral lumbar interbody fusion procedures (ALIF, XLIF). METHODS: Twenty eight patients with suspected SE were referred for TG to both legs. They completed our questionnaire on severity of difficulties after SE. We evaluated the ability of physical examinations to reveal the SE in contrast to TG and compared the symptoms (warmer leg and inhibited leg sweating) of SE with questionnaire responses as subjective measure and TG as objective measure. RESULTS: SE was diagnosed in 0.5% after ALIF at L5/S1, in 15% after ALIF at Th12-L5 and in 4% after XLIF at T12-L5. SE severely reduced the quality of life in two cases. The ability to distinguish differences in leg temperature by palpation after SE was found in 32%. All physical examinations together were insufficient for reliably disclosing SE. Subjective symptoms of SE were often false positive and proven SE by TG was often a clinically false negative. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to examine post-SE dysfunction objectivelya using TG after ALIF and XLIF, and the first to evaluate clinically, the severity of the post-SE syndrome. Before surgery we cannot foresee potentially poor SE results. For this reason, injury to the sympathetic chain during surgery must be avoided. The advantage of TG for identifying SE is its non-invasiveness and reliability.

Life-threatening course of pemphigus vulgaris complicated by sepsis caused by azathioprine-induced bone marrow suppression, successfully managed with combination therapy.

Severe forms of pemphigus vulgaris (PV) that are resistant to standard treatment present a life-threatening disease with a mortality of 5-10%. The treatment is usually individualized. The most popular procedures used today include intravenous applications of immunoglobulins and rituximab. Currently the common use of pulse corticosteroids, often in first-line treatment, is being neglected. This particular case documented the severity of the disease and also the need for combined and comprehensive care, in which corticosteroid pulse therapy still plays an important role.

Fuchs' syndrome (Stevens-Johnson syndrome without skin involvement) in an adult male--a case report and general characteristics of the sporadically diagnosed disease.

Fuchs' syndrome (Stevens-Johnson syndrome without skin involvement) is a sporadically diagnosed disease. Most authors consider it to be a pure mucosal variant of Stevens-Johnson syndrome; however, some consider the syndrome a separate entity. The complete absence of cutaneous symptoms may be the reason that not all cases of Fuchs' syndrome are diagnosed and properly classified. The authors describe a case of a 22-year-old patient suffering only from mucosal symptoms, diagnosed as Fuchs' syndrome from the context of the tests performed. A Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection triggered the disease onset. Mycoplasma infection, as a trigger factor of Fuchs' syndrome in adults, has so far been described in only a few isolated cases worldwide.

Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis induced in a patient treated with infliximab for Crohn's disease.

The induction of psoriasis as a side effect of treatment with TNF-alpha inhibitors is one of a few rare complications of treatment, the pathogenic mechanism of which has not yet been completely clarified. The clinical presentation of these reactions may show the typical characteristics of psoriasis, palmoplantar pustulosis and psoriasiform exanthema; the individual variations of which may combine to give different presentations in individual patients. We present the case of a patient who, after administration of infliximab indicated for Crohn's disease, developed not only skin manifestations but also those of psoriatic arthritis.