[Deflazacort-induced Steven-Johnson syndrome: a case report and literature review].

To summarize the clinical features and outcomes of deflazacort-induced Steven Johnson syndrome (SJS)-toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) to raise awareness among patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), neurologists as well as other deflazacort users. The clinical data of a boy with DMD who had SJS induced by deflazacort treated at the Department of Rheumatology & Clinical Immunology of Tianjin Children's Hospital in July 2024 was analyzed retrospectively. Taking "deflazacort" "Steven-Johnson syndrome" "toxic epidermal necrolysis" in Chinese or English as the keywords, literature was searched at CNKI, Wanfang, China Biomedical Literature Database and PubMed up to July 2024. The clinical characteristics, treatment and outcomes of deflazacort-induced SJS-TEN were summarized. A 12-year-old boy was admitted with a 3-day history of rash. He was diagnosed with DMD at the age of 3 and had been treated with prednisolone since the age of 8. Forty-four days before admission, the patient started deflazacort to replace prednisolone. Three days before admission, progressively worsening erythematous maculopapular rashes, blisters and skin peeling (8% body surface area), oral mucosal erosion, and exudative conjunctivitis occurred, thus deflazacort was discontinued. Complete remission of SJS was achieved after treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG, total 1.4 g/kg), 2 doses of etanercept (0.9 mg/kg, once), subcutaneous injection and intravenous methylprednisolone (0.7 mg/(kg·d)). Based on the literature, there were 5 reports in English while none in Chinese, altogether 7 cases were reported. All the patients were male, aged 3-45 years. Duration of deflazacort exposure was 2-8 weeks. Dermatology diagnosis of our case was SJS, and 5 cases were TEN. One patient was diagnosed with exudative erythema multiforme, and subsequent deflazacort oral challenge test was positive. Treatment included methylprednisolone or dexamethasone in 5 cases, IVIG in 6 cases, etanercept in 3 cases and cyclosporine in 1 case. All patients recovered completely. The synthetic corticosteroid deflazacort can cause rare but severe adverse reactions such as SJS-TEN, which needs close monitoring and prompt recognition and management.