Department of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaraş Sutcu Imam University, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey.
Clin Rheumatol. 2010 Jan;29(1):59-63. doi: 10.1007/s10067-009-1294-9. Epub 2009 Oct 11.
Nonspecific increased inflammatory response is an important feature of Behçet's disease (BD). The skin pathergy reaction (SPR) which tests this hyperreactivity in the skin is frequently used as a diagnostic tool. This study aims to investigate the argon laser photocoagulation (ALP)-induced cutaneous inflammation in BD patients and controls and also to compare the results with the skin pathergy test (SPT). The study group consisted of 35 patients with BD and 28 healthy volunteers. The ALP was applied to the left forearms of all cases from 20-cm distance (2,000 mW, 100 microm) with exposure times ranging from 0.2 to 0.7 s with 0.1-s increments. Also, a SPT with three prics was performed to both forearms of all cases. The ALP-induced cutaneous inflammation and SPT were evaluated and scored with the same method at 48 h, and the SPR scores of 2+ and above was accepted as positive. Positive results as defined above were found in eight cases (23%) with the ALP and in nine (26%) with the SPT in patients with BD. There was no clear correlation between the ALP and SPT results and also between the exposure time to laser beam and SPR scores. The preliminary results of this study reveal that ALP can induce a skin hyperreactivity similar to the needle prick-induced SPR in patients with BD. We, herein, showed that ALP can induce skin inflammation with its thermal effect and without any inoculation of antigen in BD. This method would help to develop another experimental method to investigate the cutaneous inflammation in BD.
非特异性炎症反应增强是白塞病（BD）的重要特征。皮肤针刺反应（SPR）用于检测皮肤的这种高反应性，常被用作诊断工具。本研究旨在探讨BD 患者和对照组氩激光光凝（ALP）诱导的皮肤炎症，并将结果与皮肤针刺试验（SPT）进行比较。研究组包括 35 例 BD 患者和 28 名健康志愿者。所有病例均从 20cm 距离（2000mW，100μm）应用 ALP，暴露时间从 0.2 到 0.7s 不等，每次增加 0.1s。同时，对所有病例的两个前臂进行 SPT。在 48 小时内，采用相同的方法评估和评分 ALP 诱导的皮肤炎症和 SPT，将 SPR 评分≥2+定义为阳性。BD 患者中，ALP 阳性 8 例（23%），SPT 阳性 9 例（26%）。ALP 和 SPT 结果之间以及激光束暴露时间和 SPR 评分之间均无明显相关性。本研究的初步结果表明，ALP 可诱导类似于针刺诱导的 SPR 的皮肤高反应性。我们表明，ALP 可以通过其热效应而无需抗原接种在 BD 中诱导皮肤炎症。这种方法将有助于开发另一种实验方法来研究 BD 中的皮肤炎症。
