title: Erythema multiforme and Stevens-Johnson syndrome following radiotherapy.
abstract: Erythema multiforme (EM) and Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) are thought to be hypersensitivity syndromes with various causes, and radiotherapy might be one of the causes of these syndromes. We herein report two cases of EM/SJS following radiotherapy. The first case was a 63-year-old woman with breast cancer. At the end of postoperative radiotherapy with 60 Gy, severe pruritic erythema appeared in the irradiated area and spread over the whole body. She was diagnosed with EM by a skin biopsy. The second case was a 77-year-old woman with uterine cervical cancer who underwent postoperative radiotherapy. At a dose of 30.6 Gy, pruritic redness appeared in the irradiated area and the precordial region, and it became widespread rapidly with polymorphic transformation. Although without any histological confirmation, SJS was strongly suspected because of her pruritic conjunctivitis. Because both patients were given medicines during irradiation, radiotherapy may not be the only cause of EM/SJS. However, it should be noted that radiotherapy might trigger EM/SJS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadamasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshitake
authors.forename: Katsumasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shioyama
authors.forename: Tomonari
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Saiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ooga
authors.forename: Madoka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Urashima
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Urabe
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Terashima
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Honda
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D004892:Erythema Multiforme / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013262:Stevens-Johnson Syndrome / Q000209:etiology