Hypersensitivity vasculitis in adults: A benign disease usually limited toskin

Objectives. To examine the clinical spectrum of hypersensitivity vasculitis (HV) in an unselected population of adults and establish differences between patients with HV limited to the skin and those with systemic involvement. Methods. Retrospective study of adult patients (>20 years) with biopsy-proven cutane ous leukocytoclastic vasculitis diagnosed as having HC: who were seen at th e single hospital sewing a well defined population between 1984 and 1998. P atients were classified as having HV according to the criteria of Michel et al. (9). To examine outcome and relapses of the disease only those patient s with a follow-up of at least 1 year were included in this study. Results. 64 patients with a mean follow-lip of 4.9 +/- 3.5 (range: 1.1 - 13.6) years were studied Ten (15.6%) had visceral involvement (3 gastrointestinal and 7 renal manifestations) during the course of the disease. The remaining pat ients had a leukocytoclastic vasculitis limited to the skin. When the study was concluded persistent hematuria and proteinuria was only observed in I patient and none developed renal insufficiency. Patients with a history of drug treatment and elevated ESR had more systemic complications but the dif ference was not statistically significant. The outcome was excellent in bot h patients with HV limited to the skin and in those with systemic complicat ions during the course of the disease. Conclusions. In unselected adults HV is generally a benign disease confined exclusively to the skin. In those patients with systemic manifestations, visceral invol vement is generally mild and transient.