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Autoimmune Connective Tissue Diseases

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Hospital-Based Dermatopathology

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Abstract

Autoimmune connective tissue diseases (CTD) include a variety of chronic autoimmune disorders that may affect one or multiple organ systems, with the skin being frequently involved. Accurate diagnosis of this category of diseases is critically dependent on careful correlation amongst clinical features, laboratory studies, histopathologic findings, and clinical course, with no single feature being pathognomonic. Often, patients are best served by a multidisciplinary care team, with representatives from rheumatology, dermatology, and other subspecialists as directed by each patient’s pattern of disease. Generally, affected patients require ongoing follow-up for monitoring of disease activity and treatment response, as well as surveillance for evolution of their disease. This chapter will provide a general overview of key systemic features of each major CTD, with particular emphasis to the dermatologic and dermatopathologic manifestations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Dermatology and Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Julia S. Lehman & Alina G. Bridges

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  1. Julia S. Lehman
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  2. Alina G. Bridges
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Correspondence to Julia S. Lehman .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Director of Dermatopathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Mai P. Hoang

  2. Professor of Pathology and Dermatology, Director, Dermatopathology Unit, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Maria Angelica Selim

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Lehman, J.S., Bridges, A.G. (2020). Autoimmune Connective Tissue Diseases. In: Hoang, M., Selim, M. (eds) Hospital-Based Dermatopathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35820-4_11

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