SWEETS-SYNDROME - A STUDY OF 16 CASES

We performed a retrospective analysis of the records of 16 patients di agnosed in our dermatology service as Sweet's syndrome (SS), with the aim of describing their clinical findings and associations, and compar ing our results with previous ones. The mean age was 51, and 82% were female. A previous infection was recorded in 5 cases (31%) (gastroente ritis, primary pulmonary tuberculosis, upper airways infection, wound infection, and streptococcal pharyngitis). Two patients (12%) suffered from a malignant neoplasia (acute myeloid leukemia and prostatic neop lasia), another patient had a coincident bout of acute ulcerative coli tis with pyoderma gangrenosum, and a third one refered previous ingest ion of diclofenac and intense sun exposure, Most patients had their le sions localized on the upper extremities (75%), fever was present in 8 cases (50%), arthralgia in six (37%), and erythema nodosum in five (3 1%). The most frequent laboratory finding was an elevated sedimentatio n rate (93% had values over 20 mm/h), and only 44% of patients had leu kocyte counts over 10 x 10(9)/l, Urinanalysis was abnormal in one thir d of the patients, and chest roentgenograms, performed in ten patients , were all normal. Most of the patients were treated with low doses of oral prednisone (30 mg/day) with good results. The disease recurred i n 25% of the patients.