title: Childhood pemphigus vulgaris: five cases in 16 years.
abstract: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) usually occurs in adults. There are only a few reports of large PV series concerning childhood cases. We report here five cases of PV in patients younger than 16 years. They were analyzed among 169 PV cases out of a total of 192 pemphigus patients diagnosed between 1988-2004. The ratio of childhood cases was 2.9% in our large PV series. This relatively high ratio of childhood patients suggests that PV should not be neglected in the differential diagnosis of bullous lesions in childhood. Four of the five cases were followed up between 2-4 years and all of these four cases showed at least one relapse. PV also seems to show a relapsing course in the pediatric age group like in adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Istanbul Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey. karadidem@yahoo.com
authors.forename: K Didem
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Yazganoğlu
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baykal
authors.forename: Rifkiye
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Küçükoğlu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D019085:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Direct; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010392:Pemphigus / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D008775:Methylprednisolone