WEDNESDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) -- High-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy for inflammatory and autoimmune disorders can cause severe, extensive eczema in rare cases, and patients first experience lesions on the palms and soles that spread to other parts of the body, according to a study published in the February issue of the Archives of Dermatology.
Gianluca Vecchietti, M.D., and colleagues from the University of Geneva in Switzerland, observed four cases of severe extensive eczematous reaction that occurred about 10 days after IVIG infusion for polyradiculoneuritis.
The reaction began with dyshidrotic lesions on the patients' palms and continued with the rapid development of pruriginous maculopapular lesions involving the whole body. The skin lesions completely resolved within a month after patients were treated with topical and/or systemic steroids.
"To date, 33 cases of cutaneous rash following IVIG infusion have been reported in the literature, mostly in neurology journals, and the features are identical to those reported herein," the authors state. "Severe eczematous skin reaction with a characteristic initial localization to the palms and/or soles that then extends to the rest of the body is a rare but characteristic adverse effect of high-dose IVIG therapy," the authors conclude.
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