Treatment
A totally effective treatment method against EV has not yet been found. Several treatments have been suggested, and acitretin 0.5–1 mg/day for 6 months’ duration is the most effective treatment owing to antiproliferative and differentiation-inducing effects.
Interferons can also be used effectively together with retinoids.
Cimetidine was reported to be effective because of its depressing mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation and Regulatory T cells activity features. A report by Oliveira showed that cimetidine was ineffective. Hayashi applied topical calcpotriol to a patient with a successful result.
As mentioned, various treatment methods are offered against EV; however, most importantly, education of the patient, early diagnosis and excision of the tumoral lesions take preference to prevent the development of cutaneous tumors.
Interferons can also be used effectively together with retinoids.
Cimetidine was reported to be effective because of its depressing mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation and Regulatory T cells activity features. A report by Oliveira showed that cimetidine was ineffective. Hayashi applied topical calcpotriol to a patient with a successful result.
As mentioned, various treatment methods are offered against EV; however, most importantly, education of the patient, early diagnosis and excision of the tumoral lesions take preference to prevent the development of cutaneous tumors.
Cures
Dede, 37, said his condition began when a small wart developed after he cut his knee as a teenager, and that the warts had since spread over his body.
Doctors began operating on Dede in 2007, removing an initial five kilograms of warts. Another operation in August 2009 removed six kilograms of the warts.
The operations were initially declared a success and doctors had hoped that Dede would be able to resume a normal life. After the August operation, he was able to open and close his hands and feel sensation in them.
“He was able to use a pen and pick things up,” Rachmat Dinata, a doctor at Hasan Sadikin Hospital, said last December. “But he has now lost those abilities again.
“Since August, the size of his hands has swelled by 30 percent and they can’t function normally,” Rachmat said.
Dede’s condition is caused in part by a rare genetic fault that impedes his immune system, which prevents his body from being able to contain the warts.
The virus “hijacks” the cellular processes of his skin cells, causing them to produce massive amounts of the substance that builds up tree-like growths known as “cutaneous horns,” mostly on his hands and feet.
As a result of his condition, Dede has been fired from his job, been unable to find new work, deserted by his wife and shunned by neighbors. For a while, he took part in a “freak show” circus act in Bandung to earn money.
Doctors began operating on Dede in 2007, removing an initial five kilograms of warts. Another operation in August 2009 removed six kilograms of the warts.
The operations were initially declared a success and doctors had hoped that Dede would be able to resume a normal life. After the August operation, he was able to open and close his hands and feel sensation in them.
“He was able to use a pen and pick things up,” Rachmat Dinata, a doctor at Hasan Sadikin Hospital, said last December. “But he has now lost those abilities again.
“Since August, the size of his hands has swelled by 30 percent and they can’t function normally,” Rachmat said.
Dede’s condition is caused in part by a rare genetic fault that impedes his immune system, which prevents his body from being able to contain the warts.
The virus “hijacks” the cellular processes of his skin cells, causing them to produce massive amounts of the substance that builds up tree-like growths known as “cutaneous horns,” mostly on his hands and feet.
As a result of his condition, Dede has been fired from his job, been unable to find new work, deserted by his wife and shunned by neighbors. For a while, he took part in a “freak show” circus act in Bandung to earn money.
Diagnosis
Clinical diagnostic features are lifelong eruption of pityriasis versicolor-like macules, flat wart-like papules and development of cutaneous carcinomas.
Patients present with flat, slightly scaly, red-brown macules on the face, neck and body, recurring especially around the penial area, or verruca-like papillomatous lesions, seborrheic keratosis-like lesions, and pinkish-red plane papules on the hands, upper and lower extremities, and face. The benign form of EV presents with only flat, wart-like lesions over the body, whereas the malignant form shows a higher rate of polymorphic skin lesions and development of multiple cutaneous tumors.
Generally, cutaneous lesions are disseminated over the body, but there are some cases with only a few lesions which are limited to one extremity.
Patients present with flat, slightly scaly, red-brown macules on the face, neck and body, recurring especially around the penial area, or verruca-like papillomatous lesions, seborrheic keratosis-like lesions, and pinkish-red plane papules on the hands, upper and lower extremities, and face. The benign form of EV presents with only flat, wart-like lesions over the body, whereas the malignant form shows a higher rate of polymorphic skin lesions and development of multiple cutaneous tumors.
Generally, cutaneous lesions are disseminated over the body, but there are some cases with only a few lesions which are limited to one extremity.