Sudden Onset of Oral Ulcerative Lichen in a Patient with Chronic Hepatitis C on Treatment with Alfa-Interferon

A review and guide to drug-associated oral adverse effects-Oral mucosal and lichenoid reactions. Part 2

Dental practitioners and other health professionals commonly encounter and manage adverse medicine effects that manifest in the orofacial region. Numerous medicines are associated with a variety of oral adverse effects. However, due to lack of awareness and training, these side effects are not always associated with medicine use and are underreported to pharmacovigilance agencies by dentists and other health professionals. This article aims to inform health professionals about the various oral adverse effects that can occur and the most commonly implicated drugs to improve the management, recognition and reporting of adverse drug effects. This article follows on from Part 1; however, the focus here is on lichenoid reactions and oral mucosal disorders including oral aphthous-like ulceration, mucositis and bullous disorders such as drug-induced pemphigus, pemphigoid, Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis.

Oral diseases associated with hepatitis C virus infection. Part 2: lichen planus and other diseases

Some of the most frequent extrahepatic manifestations of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection involve the oral region predominantly or exclusively. Part 2 of this review discusses the current evidences regarding the association of lichen planus (LP) and other diseases frequently involving the oral cavity with HCV. Epidemiological data suggest that LP may be significantly associated with HCV infections especially in southern Europe and Japan but not in northern Europe. These geographical differences are possibly influenced by immunogenetic factors, the duration of the HCV infection and the design of the published studies. Because of the fact that most of the studies published are retrospective, it is impossible to establish whether the HCV exposure occurred earlier to or after the onset of disease and more prospective studies are clearly warranted. As the virus may replicate in the skin and oral mucosa and HCV-specific T lymphocytes can be found in the oral mucosa of patients with chronic hepatitis C and LP, HCV may be implicated in the pathogenesis of LP. However, little attention has been paid to the variable effect of therapy with interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha), with or without ribavirin for LP. Conversely, it is unlikely that other oral diseases such as oral carcinoma, pemphigus and Behcet disease are triggered by HCV.