Quantitative analysis of immunocomplex deposits in the skin of patients with collagenosis.

The aim of this work was to contribute to identifying more precise diagnostic criteria of particular collagenosis. In a group of 215 patients with clinical diagnosis of collagenosis immunocomplex deposits at the dermal-epidermal junction were determined. The results, when compared with the clinical and histopathological findings, showed that direct immunofluorescence of skin sections of patients with collagenosis confirms the clinical diagnosis significantly more often than does the histopathologic analysis. The advantage of this test suggests that it should be used as an additional diagnostic method for confirming systemic diseases of the collagenous tissue.