title: Clinical entity of Lupus erythematosus panniculitis/lupus erythematosus profundus.
abstract: We reviewed the clinical and histological characteristics of the 44 cases of lupus erythematosus profundus (LEP) that have been encountered in our department. The female to male ratio was 4.5:1. The mean age of the females was 36 years, and the mean age of the males was 34 years. The most common sites were the face (38.4%) and upper limbs (26.0%). Even among the patients with LEP alone many of the positive patients had low antibody titers of 1:40 or 1:80. In 18 of the 44 cases SLE was complicated by LEP, and in those cases there was a tendency for LEP to develop during the course of SLE (11 cases). The important histological findings were lobular panniculitis associated with mucin deposition (32 cases) and a tendency to be associated with damage to the basal cell layer. In addition, the direct immunofluorescence test was positive in both the basement membrane (90.5%) and blood vessels (85.7%) in a high percentage of even the cases of LEP alone. Based on the above findings, LEP is a cutaneous variant of erythematosus, and the importance of the histological findings when making the diagnosis of LEP was reconfirmed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Japan. satoru@med.kitasato-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: Kensei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katsuoka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000276:immunology; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000473:pathology; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D019085:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Direct; D006801:Humans; D006818:Hyalin; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D009077:Mucins; D009336:Necrosis; D015435:Panniculitis, Lupus Erythematosus / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear; D009077:Mucins