Introducing a novel Autoimmune Bullous Skin Disorder Intensity Score (ABSIS) in pemphigus.

At present, there is no consensus about the clinical criteria that define disease severity of pemphigus. During recent years several scoring systems have been introduced which mainly compare inter-individual differences in disease activity. It thus remains a challenge to reflect the disease activity of individual patients by a standardised scoring system. Due to the remarkable clinical variability of pemphigus, several parameters are needed to reflect phenotypical varieties of this severe autoimmune bullous skin disorder. In view of the evaluation of different therapeutic options a scoring system sensitive enough to reflect gradual changes in disease activity seems more appropriate than a grading system for inter-individual comparison of disease severity. Taking this challenge into account we introduce and discuss a newly developed autoimmune bullous skin disorder intensity score (ABSIS).