Organised angular cheilitis as the initial sign of Crohn's disease in two children

Systematic Review of Diagnostic Delay for Children With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

OBJECTIVES

Pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a complex inflammatory condition of the gut. Diagnosing IBD involves distinct longitudinal periods from first symptoms to primary care assessment, tertiary care referral, and then endoscopic confirmation. The term diagnostic delay (DD) is used if these periods are prolonged. The aim of this review was to amalgamate DD data for children with IBD, and identify factors associated with prolonged DD.

METHODS

Six health literature databases were searched (December 2020). Inclusion criteria for papers were children diagnosed with IBD before the age of 18 years, DD central tendency data, and to report a central tendency of their DD data, cohort >10 children. For analysis, all data were weighted by cohort sample size.

RESULTS

Searches identified 236 papers, and 26 were included in the final analysis with a pooled cohort of 7030 children. The overall DD periods were IBD 4.5 months [Interquartile range (IQR) 3.6-8.7 months], Crohn disease (CD) 5 months (IQR 4-7.2 months), and ulcerative colitis/indeterminate colitis/IBD-unclassified (UC/IC/IBDU) 3 months (IQR 2.2-4.9 months). The difference between subtypes was significant ( P < 0.001), with shorter DD for UC/IC/IBDU than CD ( P < 0.001) and IBD ( P < 0.001). DD periods were longer for CD than IBD ( P < 0.001). DD decreased over time for IBD ( P < 0.001) and UC ( P < 0.001) but the trend suggested an increase for CD ( P 0.069).

CONCLUSIONS

This data can be used to benchmark DD for children with IBD. Individual centers could determine whether improvements to awareness or infrastructure may reduce DD in order to minimize the risk of poor outcomes.

A single-center prospective pilot open-label study to assess the efficacy of topical application of an oxygen-enriched oil for the treatment of angular cheilitis

PURPOSE

The aim of this pilot study was to clarify the acceptability and clinical efficacy of an oxygen-enriched oil-based gel for treatment of angular cheilitis.

METHODS

A class IIb medical preparation, packaged in appropriate syringes, was tested. Patients were instructed how to use the gel for 10 days: finger rub application (3 times daily) on the dried lesion after meals, without eating, drinking, or speaking for at least 30 min thereafter. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to assess whether there were any differences in the distributions of reported pain and lesion dimension. A microbiological examination was also performed with oral swabs; chi-squared test was used to compare the difference in the presence of microorganisms before and after treatment.

RESULTS

Thirty patients were treated. A significant improvement in reported outcome and a significant reduction in the initially measured largest dimension of the lesion were observed after use of the clinical protocol. Additionally, a significant reduction in the pathogen count was found.

CONCLUSION

Even if with limitations, data showed that this medical preparation facilitated prompt recovery from reported pain, without adverse reactions. Further work with a larger study population, and possibly a randomized control medication, will be needed.

Treatment of angular cheilitis: A narrative review and authors' clinical experience

Angular cheilitis (AC) is a clinical entity first described in the XIX century, characterized by erythema, rhagades, ulcerations, and crusting of one or both lip commissures and perilabial skin, responsible of an unpleasant and painful discomfort. Aim of this manuscript was to examine and evaluate the therapeutic options actually available for AC. Despite antifungals being the first-line treatment for most of clinicians, very limited scientific evidence supports their reliability, with just two RCTs published between the 70's and the 80's. Furthermore, alternative topical treatments, various techniques of occlusal vertical dimension restoration, B-vitamin supplementation, anti-drooling prosthetic device, and photodynamic therapy have been experimented and proposed, mostly in the form of case reports or case series on a small number of individuals. Our group found in 1% isoconazole nitrate (ISN) and 0.1% diflucortolone valerate (DFV) ointment the most consistent AC treatment, due to the broad spectrum of ISN against many species of dermatohpytes and bacteria, and the anti-inflammatory properties displayed by DFV. However, further and well-designed trials on larger samples of patients are needed to assess the differential profile of consistency of the treatments outlined in literature and claimed by the authors of this paper.

Diseases of the lips. Clin Dermatol. 2017;35:e1-e14. [PMID: 29289276 DOI: 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2017.11.003]

Heath care providers should be comfortable with normal as well as pathologic findings in the lips, because the lips are highly visible and may display clinical manifestations of local, as well as systemic inflammatory, allergic, irritant, and neoplastic alterations. Fortunately, the lips are easily accessible. The evaluation should include a careful history and physical examination, including visual inspection, as well as palpation of the lips and an examination of associated cervical, submandibular, and submental nodes. Pathologic and microscopic studies, as well as a review of medications, allergies, and habits, may further highlight possible etiologies. Many lip conditions, including premalignant changes, are relatively easy to treat, when the abnormalities are detected early; however, advanced disease and malignancies are challenging for both the patient and clinician. Treatment should be focused on eliminating potential irritants or allergens and treatment of the primary dermatosis. In this paper we review physiologic variants as well as pathologic conditions of the lips.

Crohn's disease should be considered in children with inflammatory oral lesions

This systematic review presents the oral manifestations of paediatric Crohn's disease. Our review of 28 papers published from 2000 to 2015 showed that the prevalence of oral manifestations was 10-80%. Specific symptoms included mucosal tags, swelling of the lips, cheeks and gingiva, and cobblestoning mucosa. Nonspecific symptoms included aphthous-like ulcers, angular cheilitis, lip fissuring and gingivitis.

CONCLUSION

The oral manifestations of Crohn's disease might precede intestinal inflammation or coincide with it. Crohn's disease should be considered in children with multiple oral manifestations and paediatric dentists, and gastroenterologists should be involved in their coordinated evaluation and follow-up.

Oral Crohn's disease

'Crohn's disease' is an inflammatory granulomatous disease of the gastrointestinal tract with extra-intestinal manifestations. Oral lesions may precede the intestinal disease and serve as a source for histological diagnosis. We present a case of orofacial Crohn's disease where orofacial symptoms were present for about 13 years and occasional constipation was present, since 6 months. Oral examination plays an important role in early diagnosis of Crohn's disease.