Have Skin Biopsy Results in Adults Been Affected in the COVID-19 Pandemic?

The purpose of this study was to assess how skin biopsy results from adults, which occupy an important place in dermatological practice, have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Adult patients aged over 18 presenting to the dermatology clinical of a tertiary hospital between March 12, 2019 and March 11, 2020, and between March 12, 2020 and March 11, 2021, from whom skin biopsies had been taken and who had undergone pathological examination were included in the study. Pre-COVID-19 pandemic data were compared with post-pandemic data. No significant difference was determined between the two periods in terms of age, sex, type of biopsy, preliminary diagnosis numbers, or clinicopathological correlation (P>0.05). The diseases most frequently diagnosed through biopsy before the pandemic were psoriasis (13.7%), pseudopelade of Brocq (6.8%), and fibroepithelial polyp (5.5%), compared with psoriasis (9.4%), basal cell carcinoma (BCC) (6.3%), lichen planus (6.3%), and urticarial vasculitis (6.3%) during the pandemic. Diagnoses of BCC and urticarial vasculitis were significantly elevated after the COVID-19 pandemic (P<0.05), while no periodic difference was observed in other diagnoses. A rise in the incidence of various diseases, such as urticarial vasculitis, may be indicative of a risk of asymptomatic COVID-19. Further polymerase chain reaction and/or antibody-based investigations should be carried out in order to establish whether dermatological diseases are associated with asymptomatic COVID-19 cases. Determining the clinical and histopathological aspects of COVID-19, which can progress with various cutaneous findings, will be useful in the early diagnosis and treatment of this novel and life-threatening disease

Have Skin Biopsy Results in Adults Been Affected in the COVID-19 Pandemic?

The purpose of this study was to assess how skin biopsy results from adults, which occupy an important place in dermatological practice, have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Adult patients aged over 18 presenting to the dermatology clinical of a tertiary hospital between March 12, 2019 and March 11, 2020, and between March 12, 2020 and March 11, 2021, from whom skin biopsies had been taken and who had undergone pathological examination were included in the study. Pre-COVID-19 pandemic data were compared with post-pandemic data. No significant difference was determined between the two periods in terms of age, sex, type of biopsy, preliminary diagnosis numbers, or clinicopathological correlation (P>0.05). The diseases most frequently diagnosed through biopsy before the pandemic were psoriasis (13.7%), pseudopelade of Brocq (6.8%), and fibroepithelial polyp (5.5%), compared with psoriasis (9.4%), basal cell carcinoma (BCC) (6.3%), lichen planus (6.3%), and urticarial vasculitis (6.3%) during the pandemic. Diagnoses of BCC and urticarial vasculitis were significantly elevated after the COVID-19 pandemic (P<0.05), while no periodic difference was observed in other diagnoses. A rise in the incidence of various diseases, such as urticarial vasculitis, may be indicative of a risk of asymptomatic COVID-19. Further polymerase chain reaction and/or antibody-based investigations should be carried out in order to establish whether dermatological diseases are associated with asymptomatic COVID-19 cases. Determining the clinical and histopathological aspects of COVID-19, which can progress with various cutaneous findings, will be useful in the early diagnosis and treatment of this novel and life-threatening disease

The effect of omalizumab treatment on hematological inflammatory parameters and immunoglobulin E levels in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria

Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the effect of omalizumab use on hematological parameters, inflammatory markers, and immunoglobulin E (IgE) in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria and to determine whether there would be any difference between patient and control groups in terms of these values and whether IgE levels before and after omalizumab treatment are correlated with the Urticaria Control Test (UCT). Materials And Methods: Forty-five patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria and 45 healthy controls who presented to the dermatology outpatient clinic of Yozgat Bozok University Research and Training Hospital were analyzed retrospectively. Age, gender, neutrophil, lymphocyte, monocyte, eosinophil, basophil, and thrombocyte counts and IgE values before and after 24 weeks of treatment were recorded, and IgE ratios before and after treatment were calculated. The UCT was performed on the patients. The neutrophil/lymphocyte, platelet/lymphocyte, lymphocyte/monocyte, eosinophil/basophil, and eosinophil/lymphocyte ratios were calculated for the control group and the patient group, both before and after treatment. Mean platelet volume (MPV), which is also considered an inflammatory marker, was recorded before treatment, in both the control group and the patient group. Results: The patients' median pre-treatment IgE level [189.0 (1.0-1824.0)] was significantly lower than the post-treatment level [561.0 (2.0-4301.0)] (P<0.001). No significant difference was determined in basophil, platelet, eosinophil, monocyte, lymphocyte, and neutrophil counts and neutrophil/lymphocyte, platelet/lymphocyte, lymphocyte/monocyte, eosinophil/basophil, and eosinophil/lymphocyte ratios before and after omalizumab treatment. The mean UCT score of the patients was found to be 11.5 (+/- 3.9). The mean IgE ratio post-omalizumab treatment/pre-omalizumab treatment was 5.8. No significant difference was found between the patient and control groups regarding neutrophil/lymphocyte, platelet/lymphocyte, lymphocyte/monocyte, eosinophil/basophil, and eosinophil/lymphocyte ratios, as well as MPVs. A significant correlation was found between the patients' UCT scores and IgE levels after omalizumab treatment (r=0.313; P=0.046). Conclusion: No changes were observed in hematological inflammatory markers of patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria, compared with healthy controls. Besides, no changes were observed in either inflammatory markers or hematological parameters, following the use of omalizumab in these patients. Hence, it is considered that there is no harm in using omalizumab in diseases such as chronic disease anemia, chronic idiopathic neutropenia, and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. The fact that omalizumab treatment caused a significant increase in IgE levels, in correlation with previous studies, made us think that the methods of reducing the dose or extending the dose interval should be preferred, instead of abruptly interrupting the treatment during the discontinuation period to prevent relapses