Development and validation of a Patient-Reported Outcome in systemic sclerosis: the Hand scleroDerma lived Experience Scale (HAnDE Scale)

OBJECTIVES

to develop and validate a Patient Reported Outcome (PRO) scale-the HAnDE (Hand-ScleroDerma Disease lived Experience) scale-assessing the lived experience of hand involvement in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).

METHODS

explanatory sequential mixed-method study with two phases: 1) PRO development through an Inductive Process to analyze the Structure of lived Experience approach, involving 21 SSc patients, 2) PRO validation by assessing the psychometric properties of the scale among 105 SSc patients.

RESULTS

1) Phase-1 enabled to generate the 18-item provisional scale. 2) The mean total score of the scale was 29,16 (SD 16,15). The item reduction process retained 16 items with 5 levels of answers (range 0-64). Internal consistency of the 16-item version was excellent (Cronbach-alpha coefficient=0,946). Construct validity was very good, the Principal Component Analysis being in favour of a unidimensional instrument, with one factor explaining 56% of the variance, and concurrent validity being confirmed: Cochin Hand Function Scale r=0,66; Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability index r=0.58; Hospital Anxiety Depression, anxiety r=0,51, depression r=0,4; Mouth Handicap in Systemic Sclerosis r=0,61; SF-36, physical component r=-0,48, mental component r=-0,46; and Kapandji score r=-0,46. The correlations were statistically significant (p<0,05).

CONCLUSION

We propose, for future trials and clinical practice in SSc, a new PRO the HAnDE scale, that assesses all the dimensions -functional, aesthetic, relational, existential, and emotional- of the lived experience of hand involvement.

[Idiopathic lipoatrophic panniculitis in an adult treated with hydroxychloroquine and adipocyte grafting]

BACKGROUND

Idiopathic lipoatrophic panniculitis is a rare disease. Various terms are used in the literature to describe similar entities: annular lipoatrophy of the ankles, lipophagic panniculitis and lipoatrophic panniculitis. In any event, it consists of an inflammatory process progressing to necrosis of the fatty tissue.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Herein we report the case of a 37-year-old woman presenting characteristic signs: erythematous, annular, symmetrical, painful, inflammatory lesions of the lower extremities, progressing to areas of atrophy with an indurated inflammatory periphery. Histopathology showed lobular panniculitis composed primarily of lymphocytes and macrophages. The etiological investigations ruled out all other causes of lobular panniculitis. The patient was successfully treated with hydroxychloroquine 400mg/day for 1 year and she subsequently underwent fat grafting on the secondary lesions.

DISCUSSION

Our literature review identified 23 reported cases of idiopathic lipoatrophic panniculitis since 2006, including 10 cases of annular ankle lipoatrophy. The most commonly used treatments are corticosteroids, hydroxychloroquine and methotrexate, with good efficacy being seen on the inflammatory phase. This disease seems a good indication for fat grafting to limit aesthetic sequelae.

CONCLUSION

Lipoatrophic panniculitis, a rare disease, results in significant aesthetic sequelae which may be limited by early treatment initiation. The benefit-risk ratio of hydroxychloroquine suggests its value as first-line therapy in this pathology. Our case also demonstrates the value of filling of the secondary atrophy by fat grafting after the inflammatory period has ended.

[Cutaneous involvement in T-lymphoblastic lymphoma]

BACKGROUND

Lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL) is a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Cutaneous LBL is seen in less than 20% of patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Herein, we report the case of a 66-year-old male patient without any previous disease history of note and who was presenting a gradually spreading tumoral lesion of the scalp, several purplish macules and nodules on the trunk, and a single spinal adenopathy. A thoracic-abdominal-pelvic CT scan performed for acute renal failure, revealed extensive infiltration of retroperitoneal tissue. Skin biopsies and staging tests indicated LBL-T with associated cutaneous, bone and lymph node retroperitoneal lesions with no mediastinal mass. After two months of treatment with CHOP (four courses), the cutaneous lesions and abdominal tumoral mass had regressed and renal function had returned to normal.

DISCUSSION

There have been 13 reported cases of LBL with cutaneous involvement; most of these patients were young (under 30 years) and presented multiple cutaneous lesions (nodules or tumors) associated with numerous peripheral adenopathies, invasion of the bone marrow, and in many cases, a mediastinal mass. The clinical presentation of LBL-T in our case is novel on account of the cutaneous sites, associated with abdominal tumoral syndrome, without mediastinal infiltration, and with a single peripheral adenopathy, in an elderly subject.

Chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection with cutaneous and sinus lymphoproliferation in a white female patient with 25 years' follow-up: an original case report

Chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection (CAEBV) is characterized by chronic infectious mononucleosis-like symptoms associated with very high viral load, as assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. We present an unusual case in a French woman who was followed up over 25 years with cutaneous and sinus lymphoproliferation. This white woman presented with a long history of recurrent cutaneous necrotic papules of the skin, which started during childhood and healed spontaneously with depressed scars. The lesions spread to the left maxillary sinus and were associated with hepatomegaly and splenomegaly with no other visceral locations. Pathological examination of the skin and sinus revealed a dermal monoclonal T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder, CD7(+) and CD20(-) , with no epidermotropism. T-cell receptor rearrangement was positive, showing the monoclonality from the first biopsy. This T-cell proliferation was positive for EBV-encoded small RNA and was associated with a high EBV viral load. Since then, the patient has been in good health, despite a permanently high EBV viral load. Hydroa vacciniforme (HV)-like lymphoma and natural killer/T-cell lymphoma were discussed, but none really fit our case. Natural killer cell lymphoma was ruled out because of the indolent course, but sinus lesions do not exist in HV-like lymphoma. A therapeutic approach is difficult because of the coexistence of viral infection and monoclonal T-cell proliferation. Chemotherapy is not efficient and induces immunosuppression, which may worsen the prognosis. Although rituximab may have an immunomodulatory function, it was not effective in our case.

Vemurafenib skin phototoxicity is indirectly linked to ultraviolet A minimal erythema dose decrease

BACKGROUND

Vemurafenib, an anti-rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma kinase B (BRAF) molecule, improves survival among patients with metastatic BRAF-mutated melanoma. Photosensitivity, a frequent cutaneous adverse effect induced by vemurafenib, can lead to cessation of treatment.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate photosensitivity mechanisms in patients treated with vemurafenib for metastatic melanoma.

METHODS

In a prospective study of 12 patients, photobiological explorations with measurements of ultraviolet A (UVA) minimal erythema dose (MED) and polychromatic MED were performed over 3 days in all 12 patients. UVA MED and polychromatic MED were also assessed for four patients before treatment. We then performed spectrophotometric analyses of (i) serum and faeces in these four patients, before and after introduction of vemurafenib; (ii) the lyophilized form of vemurafenib without excipient added; and (iii) the lyophilized form of vemurafenib added to serum and faeces before treatment.

RESULTS

Photosensitivity was present in 92% of the patients. UVA MED was normal before treatment and decreased after treatment, while polychromatic MED remained normal. The same three peaks (210, 260 and 310 nm) were identified in the spectrum for UVB and UVC but not for UVA on spectrophotometric analyses for each condition (lyophilized vemurafenib; serum and faeces after introduction of vemurafenib; and lyophilized vemurafenib added to serum and faeces before treatment). The peaks were different before treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study confirms that photosensitivity under vemurafenib treatment was a UVA phototoxicity reaction, and our results suggest that a metabolite of vemurafenib rather than the parent molecule is involved in this phototoxicity.

Human de novo papillary renal-cell carcinomas in a kidney graft: evidence of recipient origin with adenoma-carcinoma sequence

Papillary renal-cell carcinoma (pRCC) is unusual for its occurrence in kidneys with chronic dysfunction, for its frequent multifocality and for its common association with papillary adenoma, a benign renal lesion morphologically indistinguishable from pRCC. Concomitant development of papillary adenoma and pRCC in five transplanted kidneys, where donor and recipient characteristics are well established, provided a unique opportunity for molecular studies of de novo pRCC carcinogenesis. We aimed to study this tumor type to determine whether or not the different papillary tumors have the same origin, and whether or not papillary adenomas are precursor lesions of pRCC. We performed XY-FISH in sex-mismatched kidney transplants, and polymorphic microsatellite DNA and high-resolution melting of mitochondrial DNA analyzes in all five patients on laser-microdissected tumor cells, then compared these molecular profiles to donor and recipient profiles. This study (i) identified the recipient origin of de novo papillary adenomas and pRCCs in a kidney transplant, (ii) demonstrated an identical origin for precursor cells of papillary adenomas and pRCCs and (iii) showed additional genetic alterations in pRCCs compared to papillary adenomas. This molecular approach of papillary tumors developed in transplanted kidney identified successive steps in carcinogenesis of human de novo papillary renal-cell carcinoma.