This paper aims to remind paediatric clinicians to suspect and confirm 'PFA
PA' syndrome (Periodic Fever, Aphthous stomatitis, Pharyngitis and cervical
Adenitis syndrome). We report two cases of PFAPA syndrome: a 3-year-old he
althy boy with atopic rhinitis and a boy aged 8 years 5 months who simultan
eously had lymphocytic vasculitis syndrome treated with immunosuppressive d
rugs. Both met Marshall's criteria. The literature regarding PFAPA syndrome
was complied using a Medline search for articles published between 1963 an
d 1998 and we then reviewed the reference lists of the articles. The Medlin
e search revealed 28 cases with available clinical manifestations, manageme
nt and prognosis. Our study describes two additional cases. We divided the
cases into typical (28 cases) and atypical (two cases) PFAPA syndrome. In t
ypical PFAPA, the age of onset was less than 5 years in most cases and the
patients presented 4.9 +/- 1.4 days of fever (100%), pharyngitis (89.3%), c
ervical adenitis (72.1%), stomatitis (71.4%), malaise (64.3%), headache (60
.7%), abdominal pain (53.6%) and nausea/vomiting (17.9%). Afebrile interval
s were 3.2 +/- 2.4 months and increased with age. The time from initial ons
et to final episode was 3 years 7 months +/- 3 years 6 months. The total nu
mber of episodes was 8.3 +/- 2.5 (range 6-14). Effective treatment included
steroids, tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy and cimetidine. The general outcome
was good. In atypical PFAPF, the clinical manifestations were similar to th
ose of typical PFAPA except that the age of onset was more than 5 years, an
d life-threatening intestinal perforation happened once in a patient with u
nderlying Fanconi's anaemia. It was concluded that typical PFAPA syndrome i
s benign and can be diagnosed by detailed history-taking and from physical
findings during repeated febrile episodes with tests to rule out other peri
odic fever syndromes. A review of the literatures since the first report in
1987 has shown that typical PFAPA syndrome is not associated with signific
ant long-term sequelae and has a good response to steroids. One patient wit
h atypical PFAPA, who received low-dose steroids for over 1 year, developed
intestinal perforation after an increment of the 7-day steroid dose. If an
underlying problem requires long-term immunosuppressive medication, it is
wiser to choose cimetidine rather than increasing the steroid dosage to res
olve atypical PFAPA.