1. CLINICAL IMPORTANCE OF HISTOPATHOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN VITILIGO.
- Author
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CAVALCANTI, Rômulo de Brito, FERREIRA, Mariana Rodrigues, MONTEIRO, Gabriela Jacób, CARVALHO, Aparecida de Lourdes, and MIRANDA, Carla Silva Siqueira
- Abstract
Vitiligo is a progressive disease characterized by depigmentation of the skin due to the decrease in the number or the absence of melanocytes, often starting in the perioral region. This study aims to identify the main histopathological findings that support a better diagnostic-therapeutic approach. The search was performed in Pubmed database using descriptors: vitiligo, histopathology, pathology and inflammatory infiltrate. It resulted in 14 works published in the last 10 years, of which 3 were selected, observing the adopted criteria. The absence of melanocytes is one of the main findings that characterize vitiligo. However, immunohistochemistry showed that 12% of 100 biopsies had 7.68 melanocytes/mm², which were hypofunctioning, although viable. Compared to nevus depigmentosus, vitiligo has more hypopigmentation and lesional dermal inflammation compared to normal perilesional skin. Perifollicular lymphocytic inflammatory infiltrates (PLIN) may indicate disease activity: patients with active disease and black hair within the lesion have dense infiltrates, whereas in stable cases when the Koebner phenomenon is absent, this site has slight inflammation. Histopathological findings can confirm diagnosis in dubious cases and clarify the use of topical corticosteroids as a therapeutic alternative. Furthermore, the density of the PLIN stratifies disease activity. Immunohistochemistry has shown to be promising, identifying remaining melanocytes and enabling new therapeutic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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