ORAL METRONIDAZOLE, AN EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR SWEETS-SYNDROME IN A PATIENT WITH ASSOCIATED INFLAMMATORY BOWEL-DISEASE

A 39-year-old woman with chronic, recurrent Sweet's syndrome (acute fe brile neutrophilic dermatosis) and possible Crohn's disease was succes sfully treated with oral metronidazole. After 4 years of recurrent ski n lesions which involved the hands and face, our patient developed gen ital and perianal ulcerations which were also histopathologically char acterized by a neutrophilic infiltrate. In addition, she had a nondefo rming polyarthritis that accompanied recurrences of her skin lesions. The patient was given oral metronidazole, an agent frequently used for perianal Crohn's disease, and achieved complete resolution of the per ianal and perineal ulcers, the cutaneous lesions of Sweet's syndrome a nd the associated polyarthritis.