title: History of the establishment and revision of diagnostic criteria, severity index and therapeutic guidelines for pemphigus in Japan.
abstract: We summarize the process of establishing and revising the diagnostic criteria, severity index and therapeutic guidelines for pemphigus in Japan (including the results of a nationwide survey regarding these guidelines). We also summarize the content and present an evaluation of the utility of these guidelines. Due to the publication of these documents throughout the Japanese medical community, it appears that patients with pemphigus have recently begun to receive appropriate treatment, dramatically improving their quality of life and prognosis. Continuous examination of these criteria by means of follow-up studies of patients treated according to the guidelines is necessary to determine the long-term efficacy of treatment. To this end, it is hoped that these guidelines will be more extensively disseminated among the medical community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, 113-8421 Tokyo, Japan. ikeda@med.juntendo.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shigaku
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Sadao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Imamura
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morioka
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sakuma
authors.forename: Hideoki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ogawa
mesh_terms: D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D010392:Pemphigus / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012720:Severity of Illness Index