Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L B Savoy.
The treatment of scleromyxedema has been largely ineffective. We report improvement of scleromyxedema with myopathy after treatment with isotretinoin, 40 mg twice a day. We review other therapeutic modalities used for this disorder and discuss properties of isotretinoin that may have contributed to the favorable response.
Contrary to reports in the literature, we found no statistical difference between the prevalence of atopic disorders (asthma, hayfever, and atopic dermatitis) in patients with sickle-cell anemia and their prevalence in nonsickle-cell reference populations. We examined this issue by determining the prevalence of atopy in a sickle-cell anemia population.
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A 56-year-old black man had generalized chronic dermatitis for two years before parapsoriasis en plaque (large type) with hyper-IgE (12,000-22,000 ng/ml) was diagnosed. Lymphocyte cultures showed decreased response to mitogens. Direct immunofluorescence of involved skin showed epidermal and dermal mast cells with bound IgE. Parapsoriasis with hyper-IgE may represent a form of "hypersensitive immunosurveillance" allowing a patient to reject a clone of malignant cells and retard transformation from a benign state (parapsoriasis) to a malignant state (mycosis fungoides).