[Multiple keratosis induced by hydroxyurea].
BACKGROUND
Specific skin manifestations including skin atrophy and stripes of erythema on the extremities have been reported in patients with long-term treatment with hydroxyurea (HU).


METHODS
A 60-year-old patient who had been treated with HU since 1986 for chronic myeloid leukaemia presented in March 1992 with lesions characteristic of HU-induced skin changes. Hydroxyurea was continued for two more years and the lesions worsened. Unusually encountered multiple skin keratoses developed rapidly creating a clinical picture compatible with carcinomatous transformation until the withdrawal of hydroxyurea.


CONCLUSIONS
The chronology and the clinical signs were in favour of implicating hydroxyurea in the development of these keratoses. The literature on the subject revealed one comparable case with actinic keratoses and multiple skin carcinomas. The interactions between hydroxyurea and the keratinocytes of the basal layer could explain different aspects of hydroxyurea-related toxidermia. The most severe manifestation could be the development of epithelial skin cancer.
Grange
F
F
Service de Dermatologie, Hôpital Pasteur, Colmar.
Couilliet
D
D
Audhuy
B
B
Krzisch
S
S
Schlecht
P
P
Guillaume
J C
JC
D005260:Female; D006229:Hand Dermatoses / Q000139:chemically induced*; D006801:Humans; D006918:Hydroxyurea / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007642:Keratosis / Q000139:chemically induced*; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000188:drug therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009260:Nail Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced
D006918:Hydroxyurea
Kératoses multiples induites par l'hydroxyurée.