Esophageal Lichen Planus and Hepatitis C: Review of the Literature

INTRODUCTION L ichen planus (LP) is a T-cell-mediated chronic inflammatory disease of autoimmune origin affecting the skin, nails and mucosa, including the oral cavity and rarely the esophagus. The disease is characterized histologically by a dense lichenoid (band like) lymphocytic infiltrate along the dermal epidermal junction (1). The T-cells induce the overlying keratinocytes to undergo apoptosis. This T-cell induced inflammation causes the characteristic histological findings of multiple civatte (colloid) bodies, “saw tooth” appearance of the rete ridges, and small clefts at the dermal epidermal junction called Caspary-Joseph spaces. LP of the skin clinically shows flat topped, purplish, pruritic, papules. There are a number of other variants of lichen planus of the skin including, bullous, atrophic, hypertrophic, annular, linear and erosive. LP of the nails occurs in about 5% of patients. Wickham’s striae is a term used to describe clinical finding of A CASE TO REMEMBER