title: Plasma exchange (PE) treatment in drug-induced toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN).
abstract: Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) or Lyell's syndrome is a rare fulminating skin disease notorious for its rapidly progressive course and high mortality rate. TEN is characterized by the sudden onset of epithelial necrosis of skin with frequently associated involvement of the gastrointestinal, genitourinary tract and bronchopulmonary linings. We describe the clinical course of five patients with severe drug-induced TEN, treated with PE. The suspected drugs were carbamazepine in one patient, paracetamol in one, a combination of paracetamol and mefenamic acid in one, allopurinol in one and ciprofloxacin in one. Three had a skin involvement affecting almost the entire surface of the body. In addition to the skin lesions, mouth, esophagus and lungs were also involved. Steroids proved ineffective. PE was carried out because of the rapid deterioration of the clinical picture. The mean number of PE sessions was 3.22 (range 1-5). Complete remission of the syndrome was achieved in four patients. One patient died due to septic shock. As so far there is no treatment of proven value for this condition, controlled trials should be set up in order to assess the value of PE in TEN.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Hippokration General Hospital, Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sakellariou
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Koukoudis
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Karpouzas
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alexopoulos
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Papadopoulou
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chrisomalis
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Skenteris
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tsakaris
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Papadimitriou
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000493:Allopurinol / Q000009:adverse effects; D000658:Amoxicillin / Q000009:adverse effects; D002220:Carbamazepine / Q000009:adverse effects; D002648:Child; D002939:Ciprofloxacin / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008528:Mefenamic Acid / Q000009:adverse effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D010951:Plasma Exchange; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology; D013262:Stevens-Johnson Syndrome / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D013745:Tetanus Toxoid / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D013745:Tetanus Toxoid; D002220:Carbamazepine; D008528:Mefenamic Acid; D002939:Ciprofloxacin; D000493:Allopurinol; D000658:Amoxicillin