[Comparative study of the development and prognosis of pemphigus vulgaris and seborrheic pemphigus]

Abstract

Traditionally, the prognosis of pemphigus erythematosus is thought to be more favourable than that of pemphigus vulgaris. A retrospective study of the records of 10 patients with pemphigus erythematosus and 13 patients with pemphigus vulgaris was set up to compare the courses of the two diseases. This comparison, carried out in populations with similar age, sex ratio, pretreatment duration of the disease and treatment received, showed that relapses were more frequent in the course of pemphigus erythematosus, whereas remissions, mean duration of the disease and iatrogenic complications were the same in both groups. This study, therefore, throws some doubts on the dogma of relative mildness of pemphigus erythematosus, which goes back to a period long before systemic corticosteroid therapy was known. Mortality studies performed since the event of this treatment have shown that the prognosis had improved and tended to be the same in both diseases. The other data concerning the course of treated pemphigus erythematosus are little known and were never compared with those concerning pemphigus vulgaris. Our study shows that treatments similar to those of pemphigus vulgaris are necessary to obtain remissions in pemphigus erythematosus and that these diseases share the same evolutive profile. However, the question of the best therapeutic strategy to be used has not yet been answered.