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Oesophageal pemphigoid: a rare cause of dysphagia

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Abstract

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a rare autoimmune bullous disease which affects the skin and mucous membranes. Oesophageal involvement is rare and has previously been limited to case reports and case series. A recent large case series of 477 PV patients showed that 26/477 (5.4%) had symptomatic oesophageal involvement. We present the case of a 54-year-old Somalian lady with a 10-year history of cutaneous PV, currently in remission, who developed dysphagia and odynophagia and was subsequently found to have oesophageal PV involvement with multiple flaccid bullae which were positive for anti-DSG3 antibodies on in-direct immunofluorescence. She had her treatment switched from azathioprine to mycophenolate and prednisolone, leading to resolution of her symptoms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterology, UHCW, Clifford Bridge Road, Coventry, CV2 2DX, UK

    Michael McFarlane & Ben Disney

  2. Department of Histopathology, UHCW, Clifford Bridge Road, Coventry, CV2 2DX, UK

    Ayesha Azam & David Snead

Authors
  1. Michael McFarlane
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  2. Ayesha Azam
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  3. David Snead
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  4. Ben Disney
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael McFarlane.

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Conflict of interest

M.McFarlane, A. Azam, D. Snead and B. Disney declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Human rights

All procedures followed have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

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Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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McFarlane, M., Azam, A., Snead, D. et al. Oesophageal pemphigoid: a rare cause of dysphagia. Clin J Gastroenterol 12, 25–28 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-018-0897-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-018-0897-6

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