PYODERMA VEGETANS IN ASSOCIATION WITH CHRONIC ULCERATIVE COLITIS

Abstract

ONE OF the most dreaded complications of chronic ulcerative colitis is the fulminating ulcerative process of the skin known as pyoderma gangrenosum.¹Although such symptoms occasionally may precede diarrhea by weeks or months, they usually become manifest only after disability of the systemic process has been well established. In such cases, the skin is hypersensitive to trauma and infection, the lesions proceed in parallel with the degree of activity of the colitis and the prime factor in successful treatment consists of control of the underlying disease. Occasionally other complications of the skin may appear, namely, furuncles or episodes of erythema nodosum and erythema multiforme.² The purpose of this report is to record 5 cases in which chronic ulcerative colitis was associated with a recalcitrant pyogenic process of distinctive pattern, resembling pemphigus vegetans or dermatitis vegetans of the type described by Hallopeau³as<i>pyodermite végétante</i>. REPORT OF