Characterising oral lesions in patients who presented with chronic vesiculobullous lesions during a 10-year period.
BACKGROUND
Vesiculobullous lesions are a subset of lesons with an aetiologic spectrum that ranges from infection to aberrant mmune function. The bulk are chronic immune-mediated or autoimmune diseases in which inappropriate production of antibodies against auto-antigens results in the development of these conditions.


METHODS
All departmenta patient records in the ten-year period were reviewed and those indicating a provisional diagnosis of oral chronic immune-mediated lesions were included in the study. Simple descriptive statistics were used. Chronic immune-mediated conditions included were lichen planus, pemphigus vulgaris, benign mucous membrane pemphigoid, including cicatricial pemphigoid, bullous pemphigoid, erythema multiforme and systemic lupus erythematosus.


RESULTS
The files of forty-five patients (12 males, 33 females) who had been provisionally diagnosed with immune-mediated oral lesions during a ten-year period, from 2001 to 2010, were identified. Of these, 22 (49%) recorded final diagnoses of chronic immune-mediated conditions.


CONCLUSIONS
This paper characterises the oral lesions of chronic immune-mediated conditions diagnosed in patients attending the oral medicine clinic during a ten-year period.
Department of Oral Medicine and Periodontology, School of Oral Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Neil.Wood@wits.ac.za
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004892:Erythema Multiforme / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008010:Lichen Planus / Q000276:immunology; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D010390:Pemphigoid, Benign Mucous Membrane / Q000276:immunology; D010391:Pemphigoid, Bullous / Q000276:immunology; D010392:Pemphigus / Q000276:immunology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012872:Skin Diseases, Vesiculobullous / Q000276:immunology*; D055815:Young Adult