Lytic bone lesions and polyarthritis associated with acne fulminans

We describe a case of a male teenager, affected by acne fulminans. He had lytic bone lesions in both clavicles and arthritis of the right sacroiliac joint and spine. A bone scan showed increased uptake in these areas. Infection or a neoplastic disease was suspected but the cytological examination an...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of rheumatology 1991-10, Vol.30 (5), p.387-389
Main Authors: PIAZZA, I, GIUNTA, G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acne Vulgaris - complications
Adolescent
Arthritis - etiology
Biological and medical sciences
Clavicle
Diseases of the osteoarticular system
Humans
Inflammatory joint diseases
Male
Medical sciences
Osteolysis - etiology
Sacroiliac Joint
Spine
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We describe a case of a male teenager, affected by acne fulminans. He had lytic bone lesions in both clavicles and arthritis of the right sacroiliac joint and spine. A bone scan showed increased uptake in these areas. Infection or a neoplastic disease was suspected but the cytological examination and the bacterial cultures of the material collected with a fine needle biopsy from the clavicular lesion were negative. The patient was treated with diclofenac and promptly recovered. Our report emphasizes that, although unusual, acne fulminans can be complicated by an erosive systemic arthritis and bone lesions. An immunological mechanism seems to be involved in this association.
ISSN:0263-7103
1460-2172