title: Drug cutaneous side effect: focus on skin ulceration.
abstract: Skin ulcers are defined as tissue loss interesting the deeper layers of the dermis and hypodermis, with low tendency to spontaneous healing. They cause disability related to pain, risk of infection and amputation, chronic management, requiring working absence with notably economic burden. The major cause is often related to underlying vascular disease, infections, tumors, autoimmunity, trauma, even if literature occasionally reported several cases of drug inducing skin ulceration. Most of drugs involved are chemotherapy agents and more recently molecular target therapies. Evidences supporting these drugs as the major cause of skin ulcers include delay of onset after therapy initiation, improvement after withdrawal of the drug, recurrence after its reintroduction and, sometimes, simultaneous occurrence of other skin lesions that have previously been reported to be associated with these agents. Attention should be reserved to patients undergoing antineoplastic agents, especially if previously affected by predisposing comorbidities, considering such side effect as possible differential diagnosis for skin ulceration in neoplastic patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Policlinico "Umberto I", "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: D'Epiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Policlinico "Umberto I", "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salvi
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Policlinico "Umberto I", "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Policlinico "Umberto I", "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mattozzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Policlinico "Umberto I", "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Luci
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Policlinico "Umberto I", "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Macaluso
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Policlinico "Umberto I", "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marzocca
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Policlinico "Umberto I", "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Salvo
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Policlinico "Umberto I", "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cantisani
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Policlinico "Umberto I", "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paolino
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Policlinico "Umberto I", "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Calvieri
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Policlinico "Umberto I", "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Richetta
mesh_terms: D043925:Angiogenesis Inducing Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000963:Antimetabolites / Q000009:adverse effects; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D006801:Humans; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012883:Skin Ulcer / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors
chemical_list: D043925:Angiogenesis Inducing Agents; D000963:Antimetabolites; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; C546842:MTOR protein, human; C512478:EGFR protein, human; D066246:ErbB Receptors; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases
keywords: drug; side effects; skin; ulceration