Abstract

MATOS-CRUZ, R.  and  BASCONES-MARTINEZ, A.. Pemphigus: A literature review. Av Odontoestomatol [online]. 2009, vol.25, n.2, pp.67-82. ISSN 2340-3152.

Within the pathologies that attend the formation of blisters in the oral mucosa there is an important group of mucocutaneous diseases, one of which is pemphigus. The knowledge of these diseases has been of such increasing interest because they usually begin in the oral cavity before expressing themselves in the rest of the organism, being that a diagnosis and a precocious treatment improve the prognosis of these patients. Pemphigus is a very uncommon bullous disease of autoimmune etiology that affects both the skin and the mucosa. It is a serious disease, with an aggressive course and of chronic evolution that requires continuous and systemic treatment in order to avoid its lethal evolution. According to the clinical, histological and immunological criteria, there are five types of pemphigus: vulgaris, vegetating, paraneoplastic, foliaceous and erythematous. The present article pretends to be an up-to-date review of this disease and centers on its variants that are essentially expressed as oral manifestations: pemphigus vulgaris and paraneoplastic pemphigus. We review the etiopathologic criteria which lead us to the understanding of its clinical manifestations and also analyze ways to get to a diagnosis and the most frequently used therapies in these patients.

Keywords : Pemphigus; bullous diseases; classification; aetiology; pathogenesis; treatment.

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