Metachronous manifestations of Sweet's syndrome in a neutropenic patient with Fanconi anemia

Paediatric Sweet's syndrome with pulmonary involvement triggered by severe inflammatory bowel disease and emergent total abdominal colectomy with literature review

Sweet's syndrome (SS) is a neutrophilic dermatosis characterised by the acute onset of erythematous papules or plaques and a constellation of symptoms including fever, leucocytosis, and histopathology demonstrating nodular, pustular, or diffuse infiltrate of neutrophils with marked papillary oedema. SS can be a manifestation of inflammatory bowel disease and often coincides with periods of disease flares. Only a few cases of SS associated with ulcerative colitis are reported in the literature, and no cases have involved pulmonary manifestations in the paediatric population. We present a case of a 14-year-old girl presenting with new onset ulcerative colitis requiring emergent colectomy with subsequent development of pulmonary SS. Treatment consisted of intravenous and oral corticosteroids and dapsone. SS should be considered in the differential diagnosis of prolonged fever with cutaneous involvement and systemic symptoms. Special consideration should be given to paediatric patients with extracutaneous manifestations, particularly pulmonary involvement.

Fanconi anemia and dyskeratosis congenita/telomere biology disorders: Two inherited bone marrow failure syndromes with genomic instability

Inherited bone marrow failure syndromes (IBMFS) are a complex and heterogeneous group of genetic diseases. To date, at least 13 IBMFS have been characterized. Their pathophysiology is associated with germline pathogenic variants in genes that affect hematopoiesis. A couple of these diseases also have genomic instability, Fanconi anemia due to DNA damage repair deficiency and dyskeratosis congenita/telomere biology disorders as a result of an alteration in telomere maintenance. Patients can have extramedullary manifestations, including cancer and functional or structural physical abnormalities. Furthermore, the phenotypic spectrum varies from cryptic features to patients with significantly evident manifestations. These diseases require a high index of suspicion and should be considered in any patient with abnormal hematopoiesis, even if extramedullary manifestations are not evident. This review describes the disrupted cellular processes that lead to the affected maintenance of the genome structure, contrasting the dysmorphological and oncological phenotypes of Fanconi anemia and dyskeratosis congenita/telomere biology disorders. Through a dysmorphological analysis, we describe the phenotypic features that allow to make the differential diagnosis and the early identification of patients, even before the onset of hematological or oncological manifestations. From the oncological perspective, we analyzed the spectrum and risks of cancers in patients and carriers.

Panniculitis in a 3-year-old child with Fanconi anemia-associated bone marrow hypoplasia heralds transformation to acute myeloid leukemia

Fanconi anemia is a rare, autosomal recessive genomic instability disorder characterized by congenital limb anomalies, panmyelopathy and a high risk of malignancy, principally acute myeloid leukemia. Hematologic malignancy presenting with acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis (Sweet syndrome), both deep and superficial forms, is well described in Fanconi anemia patients but is a rare phenomenon in otherwise healthy children. We present a case of panniculitis (presumptive subcutaneous Sweet syndrome) heralding transformation to acute myeloid leukemia in a 3-year-old boy with a severe Fanconi anemia phenotype.

Insights Into the Pathogenesis of Sweet's Syndrome

Sweet's syndrome, also known as Acute Febrile Neutrophilic Dermatosis, is a rare inflammatory condition. It is considered to be the prototype disease of neutrophilic dermatoses, and presents with acute onset dermal neutrophilic lesions, leukocytosis, and pyrexia. Several variants have been described both clinically and histopathologically. Classifications include classic Sweet's syndrome, malignancy associated, and drug induced. The cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in Sweet's syndrome have been difficult to elucidate due to the large variety of conditions leading to a common clinical presentation. The exact pathogenesis of Sweet's syndrome is unclear; however, new discoveries have shed light on the role of inflammatory signaling, disease induction, and relationship with malignancy. These findings include an improved understanding of inflammasome activation, malignant transformation into dermal infiltrating neutrophils, and genetic contributions. Continued investigations into effective treatments and targeted therapy will benefit patients and improve our molecular understanding of inflammatory diseases, including Sweet's syndrome.

Cryptogenic organizing pneumonia in Sweet's syndrome: case report and review of the literature

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Sweet's syndrome or acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis is characterized by fever, leukocytosis and tender erythematous plaques, which show infiltration by mature neutrophils on histological examination. Pulmonary involvement is rare in Sweet's syndrome.

METHOD

We describe the case of a 17-year-old man with a myelodysplastic syndrome following therapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma who developed Sweet's syndrome and cryptogenic organizing pneumonia. In addition, we conducted a review of the related English literature.

RESULTS

Literature review yielded six similar reports of biopsy-proven cryptogenic organizing pneumonia associated with Sweet's syndrome. We present the clinical and laboratory characteristics, as well as the response to treatment, of all cases of cryptogenic organizing pneumonia reported in patients with Sweet's syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS

Cryptogenic organizing pneumonia is a rare manifestation of Sweet's syndrome, which may be complicated by respiratory failure. Prompt treatment with corticosteroids usually leads to clinical and radiographic improvement.

Sweet syndrome in children

The objective of this study was to describe the clinical features of Sweet syndrome in children. Our study population consisted of seven children diagnosed with Sweet syndrome over a 22-year period. Age, sex, appearance and location of lesions, associated signs and symptoms, past medical history, pathology, and subsequent disease course were documented for each patient. Fever and typical lesions were reported in most of patients in our study. The majority of patients presented with less-typical findings, such as pustules, vesicles, bullae, oral ulcerations, atrophic scars, and evidence of pathergy. Of the seven children in our study, four were found to have a preceding nonspecific upper respiratory or gastrointestinal infection, and two were diagnosed with an underlying hematologic malignancy. Our results suggest that atypical lesions are relatively common in children with Sweet syndrome and that underlying malignancy is associated with a minority of cases of pediatric Sweet syndrome.