Korean J Dermatol.
2001 Nov;39(11):1259-1266.
A Clinicopatholgic Study in Herpes Zoster
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Dermatology, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. nmcderma@hanmail.net
Abstract
-
BACKGROUND: Herpes zoster is a relatively common disease and there have been several reports on clinical study of herpes zoster. However no clinicopathological study has been reported yet in Korea.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical and pathological findings of herpes zoster.
METHODS
We performed a retrospective study of eighty patients with herpes zoster in whom skin biopsies were done from 1995 through 1999. We obtained the clinical features from record reviews and reevaluated biopsy specimen of each patient.
RESULTS
1. Herpes zoster was most frequently observed in 6th decade(40.0%). There was no sexual difference. 2. The dermatome of thoracic nerve was most frequently involved(55.0%), and followed by the dermatomes of cervical nerve(28.7%), lumbar nerve(16.2%) and trigerminal nerve(8.7%). 3. Postherpetic neuralgia was the most frequent complication of herpes zoster and was noted in 22 of the total cases(27.5%). 4. Histologically, in the epidermis, ballooning degeneration was observed in 97.5%, and reticular degeneration in 81.2%. Multinuclear giant cells and inclusion bodies were observed in 42.5% and 32.5%, respectively. In the dermis, herpetic folliculitis was observed in 28.7% and syringitis in 3.7%. Leukocytoclastic vasculitis was observed in 22.5%.
CONCLUSION
The results of clinical aspects were similar to those of previous studies. Histopathologically, most of the cases showed typical viral changes in epidermis and in some cases, herpetic folliculitis and syringitis were noted.
