Pyoderma Gangrenosum: A Literature Review

Tofacitinib therapy for severe pyoderma gangrenosum in a patient with enteropathic arthritis: a case-based review

Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is a rare neutrophilic dermatosis that is associated with systemic inflammatory conditions. Currently, there is no universally accepted standard therapy for PG, but immunosuppressive (IS) treatment seems essential. We report a patient here who was successfully treated with tofacitinib despite being PG-refractory to multiple anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNF) therapies and conventional IS. In addition, we performed a comprehensive review of all cases of PG treated with JAK inhibitors. We identified 27 cases treated with JAK inhibitors. Approximately 80% of the patients achieved complete recovery within a median of 12 weeks, even though 17 patients (63%) had received biologics before JAKinib treatment. Notably, this recovery could appear as early as 2 weeks. JAK inhibitors may prove useful in the future, particularly for treating immunosuppressive and steroid-resistant pyoderma gangrenosum, according to recent case reports.

From Unassuming to Unbelievable: A Case Report of Pyoderma Gangrenosum

Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is an autoinflammatory skin disease, and there is no definitive test or established criterion for its diagnosis yet. This report discusses a case of a 34-year-old male patient who presented with an unassuming lesion that quickly worsened with physical manipulation. He was eventually diagnosed with PG. This report highlights the importance of a quick and accurate diagnosis of PG to prevent the worsening of a PG wound and its associated morbidity. It provides a detailed description of the condition accompanied by images to further spread awareness of this rare diagnosis.

Narrative Review: Pyoderma Gangrenosum

Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is a skin lesion, characteristically a neutrophilic dermatosis, that can be complicated by rapid progression, necrosis, and ulceration. This is an important pathology to be discussed given that there are no established criteria for diagnosis or treatment. This review aims to elucidate characteristics and variations of PG that distinguish it from other ulcerative skin lesions. Variability in presentation can lead to missed or incorrect diagnosis, and some of the currently proposed criteria for categorizing and diagnosing PG have been included here. These criteria distinguish PG in terms of the nature of the lesion, the location, etiology, responsiveness to immunosuppressive therapy, and patient history. The etiology and pathogenesis of PG remain unknown, but we summarize prominent theories and explanations. Furthermore, recent research indicates that the incidence of PG has a strong correlation with autoimmune conditions, particularly inflammatory bowel disease. Major treatments for PG coincide with these findings, as the majority involve targeted anti-inflammatories, immunosuppressants, and surgical interventions. These treatments are addressed in this review, with added context for local versus systemic disease.

A novel murine model of pyoderma gangrenosum reveals that inflammatory skin-gut crosstalk is mediated by IL-1β-primed neutrophils

Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is a debilitating skin condition often accompanied by inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Strikingly, ~40% of patients that present with PG have underlying IBD, suggesting shared but unknown mechanisms of pathogenesis. Impeding the development of effective treatments for PG is the absence of an animal model that exhibits features of both skin and gut manifestations. This study describes the development of the first experimental drug-induced mouse model of PG with concomitant intestinal inflammation. Topical application of pyrimidine synthesis inhibitors on wounded mouse skin generates skin ulcers enriched in neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) as well as pro-inflammatory cellular and soluble mediators mimicking human PG. The mice also develop spontaneous intestinal inflammation demonstrated by histologic damage. Further investigations revealed increased circulating low density IL-1β primed neutrophils that undergo enhanced NETosis at inflamed tissue sites supported by an increase in circulatory citrullinated histone 3, a marker of aberrant NET formation. Granulocyte depletion dampens the intestinal inflammation in this model, further supporting the notion that granulocytes contribute to the skin-gut crosstalk in PG mice. We anticipate that this novel murine PG model will enable researchers to probe common disease mechanisms and identify more effective targets for treatment for PG patients with IBD.

Association of All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Risks With Pyoderma Gangrenosum

Importance

Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is a rare neutrophilic dermatosis. Few studies have evaluated the mortality outcomes of patients with PG.

Objective

To investigate all-cause and cause-specific mortality in patients with PG.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This retrospective population-based cohort study used data from the National Health Insurance Service database of Korea and the National Death Registry of Korea from patients with incident PG (≥3 documented visits with an International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision [ICD-10] code of L88) during January 2003 to December 2019. For comparison, a 1:20 cohort of age-, sex-, insurance type-, and income level-matched controls without any documented visit with an ICD-10 code of L88 during the entire observation was included.

Exposures

Pyoderma gangrenosum.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The participants were observed from the index date to their death, emigration, or the end of the observation period to investigate all-cause and cause-specific mortality during the 17-year study period.

Results

In total, 3386 patients with PG (1450 women [42.8%]; mean [SD] age, 57.8 [16.4] years) and 67 720 controls (29 000 women [42.8%]; mean [SD] age, 57.8 [16.3] years) were analyzed. All-cause mortality risk was greater in patients with PG than in controls (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 2.122; 95% CI, 1.971-2.285) after adjustment for smoking, drinking, body mass index, and comorbidities. Patients experienced greater mortality of infectious disease (aHR, 3.855; 95% CI, 2.640-5.628), neoplasm (aHR, 1.618; 95% CI, 1.363-1.920), hematologic disease (aHR, 12.298; 95% CI, 3.904-38.734), endocrine disease (aHR, 6.322; 95% CI, 5.026-7.953), neurologic disease (aHR, 2.039; 95% CI, 1.337-3.109), cardiovascular disease (aHR, 1.979; 95% CI, 1.645-2.382), respiratory disease (aHR, 1.757; 95% CI, 1.365-2.263), gastrointestinal disease (aHR, 2.278; 95% CI, 1.522-3.408), connective tissue disease (aHR, 8.685; 95% CI, 4.963-15.199), and kidney/urogenital disease (aHR, 3.617; 95% CI, 2.488-5.259) than controls. Compared with idiopathic PG (aHR, 2.062; 95% CI, 1.897-2.241), PG that was associated with solid organ cancer (aHR, 2.313; 95% CI, 1.956-2.737) and hematologic cancer (aHR, 8.330; 95% CI, 5.473-12.679) showed greater mortality, whereas PG that was associated with inflammatory bowel diseases showed a slightly better prognosis (aHR, 1.742; 95% CI, 0.964-3.148).

Conclusions and Relevance

The results of this cohort study suggest that patients with PG had a higher all-cause and cause-specific mortality risk than the general population.

Pyoderma gangrenosum in ulcerative colitis - An exuberant and painful complication

A 41-years-old female, with ulcerative colitis, presented to the emergency department with 7-days history of abdominal pain, bloody stools (> 10/day). The patient referred the appearance of a cutaneous lesion, on her left thigh, with subsequent appearance of similar lesions on the lower limbs. No improvement after amoxicillin/clavulanic acid. On admission, she was febrile (38.2 ºC) and tachycardic. She had three cutaneous lesions, the largest one with 8cm in the left thigh - a deep and painful lesion, with extensive ulceration, necrosis, exudative edges and with marked pathergia, compatible with pyoderma gangrenosum.