Fatal connective tissue disease with antinuclear antibodies following PUVA therapy

Abstract

Antinuclear antibodies with a nucleolar staining pattern appeared in a psoriasis patient during PUVA therapy. No antinuclear antibodies were found after the termination of PUVA but they reappeared one year later together with symptoms consistent with a connective tissue disease. The course was fatal and the clinical and the laboratory investigations suggested a scleroderma-like syndrome.