Patients with Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN) Often Have Fatal Outcome
Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is an infrequent, yet often fatal, severe systemic and cutaneous disease that is most often the result of an adverse drug reaction.
Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) progresses rapidly and is characterized by severe shedding of the skin and mucous membranes. This serious skin reaction may involve complete detachment of the skin, and usually affects more than 30% and up to 100% of the body surface. The fatality rate for patients with TEN is 25-75%.
Patients with TEN may suffer one or more of the following complications:
- kidney impairment,
- severe infection,
- difficulty breathing that requires ventilation,
- gastrointestinal bleeding,
- inflammation of the pancreas, and
- inflammation of the cornea or mucus membranes around the eye.
In addition, patients with toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) may experience scarring, changes in skin pigmentation, other eye diseases, changes in brain matter, and abnormal nail growth.
Several treatment options have been proposed, with contradictory results. Currently, the best results have been obtained with intravenous drugs known as immunoglobulins. Some practitioners believe that a short course of corticosteroid therapy is the best treatment, if started early enough.
(Posted by: Tom Lamb)