Systemic interferon-alpha treatment for idiopathic Sweet's syndrome

Despite the various therapeutic strategies used in the treatment of acute f ebrile neutrophilic dermatoses, interferon-alpha has so far been proposed o nly as an intralesional monotherapy for cutaneous lesions and has only had partial success. We now describe the treatment of a long-standing, previous ly drug resistant, case of idiopathic Sweet's syndrome. After an initial su ccessful combined short therapy with systemic interferon-alpha and hydroxyu rea, the results were maintained by long-term treatment with interferon-alp ha only. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing a clear respons e to the drug in a patient affected by Sweet's syndrome.