Chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) is well known to be associated with antithyroid peroxidase antibodies and autoimmune thyroiditis. Coexisting Graves disease has only rarely been observed. We describe 2 patients with CIU who developed autoimmune hyperthyroidism with antithyrotropin receptor antibodies. Antithyroid peroxidase antibodies were also present in 1 of the patients, but both responded...

Chronic urticaria, defined as widespread daily or nearly daily wheals for at least 6 weeks, with or without angioedema, impacts on patients’ quality of life. Natural course is self-limited, with spontaneous remissions and occasional relapses. Antihistamines, leukotriene inhibitor, immunosuppressive agents are used. 60% are idiopathic and 40% are autoimmune due to presence of anti-IgE antibody o...

Urticaria involves intensely pruritic, raised wheals, with or without edema of the deeper cutis. It is usually a self-limited, benign reaction, but can be chronic. Rarely, it may represent serious systemic disease or a life-threatening allergic reaction. Urticaria has a lifetime prevalence of approximately 20 percent in the general population. It is caused by immunoglobulin E- and nonimmunoglob...

Helicobacter pylori is probably the commonest bacterial infection worldwide and is now accepted as the cause of gastritis, peptic ulcer, gastric carcinoma, and gastric lymphoma. In the last few years, besides the local gasteroduodenal tissue damage, an association between H.pylori and various extra-intestinal pathologies had been described. Recent studies have suggested that H.pylori infection ...

INTRODUCTION Psychosocial factors have been implicated as being important in the onset and/or exacerbation of urticaria. AIM To examine both personality factors of patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) and the correlations between illness duration, severity of itching, urticaria activity score (UAS) and temperament-character dimensions. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total number of 70 C...

In vitro and in vivo clinical and experimental data have suggested that leukotrienes play a key role in inflammatory reactions of the skin. Antileukotriene drugs, i.e. leukotriene receptor antagonists and synthesis inhibitors, are a new class of anti-inflammatory drugs that have shown clinical efficacy in the management of asthma. We searched the MedLine database and carried out a manual search...

We describe a case of chronic idiopathic urticaria in which symptoms improved dramatically after treatment with omalizumab. This drug, which is approved for the treatment of asthma, has been studied in other allergic conditions and a number of reports have described its efficacy as an immunomodulator in chronic and physical urticaria. Immunopathologic mechanisms are poorly understood. In chroni...

We report the result of a pilot study of low-dose tacrolimus for the treatment of patients with severe chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU). Nineteen patients with severe CIU were treated with tacrolimus for 12 weeks. Two patients dropped out after 1 week of treatment because of side effects. Following 3 months of treatment, 12 of 17 patients (70.5%) had a clinical response to tacrolimus. In 9 pa...