Original ArticleGrover's Disease: Clinicopathologic Review of 72 Cases
Section snippets
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The medical records and biopsy slides from patients with a diagnosis of Grover's disease or transient acantholytic dermatosis examined at our institution between 1972 and 1994 were reviewed. Patients were selected for this study on the basis of histologically proven focal acantholysis in association with a clinical history that ruled out other known causes of focal acantholysis.
RESULTS
The study group consisted of 72 patients—63 men (88%) and 9 women—all of whom were white. The mean age of the study cohort was 48 years (range, 31 to 85). The mean duration of disease at initial examination was 22 months (range, 10 days to 15 years). All but 1 of the 72 patients had pruritus, which was the indication for examination by a dermatologist in almost all instances.
Pruritic papules (in 70 patients), papulovesicles (in 13), plaques (in 3), and bullae (in 1) were the commonest primary
DISCUSSION
Transient acantholytic dermatosis has been reviewed previously.5, 6, 7 We describe the characteristics, associations, and outcome of Grover's disease in our patients.
The male-to-female ratio in the current study was 7:1. A 3:1 ratio has been reported.8 In our study, all patients were white, similar to the pattern of occurrence noted in most previous studies of this disorder. Twenty cases have been reported from Japan,9 and case reports have described Grover's disease occurring in the Korean
CONCLUSION
This large series of patients with Grover's disease and those previously described are similar in patient demographics, initial clinical manifestations, distribution of lesions, relationship to heat, exercise, and sweating, and occurrence of lesions in bedbound patients. Histologically, the previously described patterns of acantholysis were seen in biopsy specimens from our patients, and the results of the immunofluorescence studies were negative or inconsistent.
Findings in this study that
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- 1
Current address: St. Vincent's Hospital, Indianapolis, Indiana.
- 2
Current address: Hospital de Cruces, Bilbao, Spain.