PEMPHIGUS VULGARIS INDUCED BY RADIOTHERAPY

Ann Dermatol Venereol Vol. 118 no. 6-7 pp. 447-51

Abstract

A 54-year-old male patient who had been suffering from lymphoma for four
years developed pemphigus vulgaris three weeks after exposure to
radiotherapy. Skin lesions were initially strictly confined to the irradiated area
and later extended over other skin areas. The eruption rapidly improved with
glucocorticosteroid therapy which could be stopped after six months.
Thirteen cases of pemphigus following X-ray irradiation have been
published, twelve of them being associated with an internal malignancy.
Clinical data strongly indicate radiation therapy as a provoking factor for the
development of pemphigus, but a possible role of the neoplasia in our
patient cannot be ruled out. It is suggested that immunological disturbances
associated with lymphoma lead to an autoimmune response after exposure to
X-rays. Ionizing radiation may alter the antigenicity of the epidermal cell
surface or unmask epidermal antigens. 

                                 Delaporte E Piette F Bergoend H 

Number of references: 33 


               Service de Dermatologie A, H*pital Claude-Huriez, Lille. 
          Transliterated/vernacular title: Pemphigus vulgaire induit par
                                               radioth*rapie. 
                                          English Indicator: A 
                                               1991 960824 


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