ACUTE GENERALIZED EXANTHEMATOUS PUSTULOSIS

Course overview

ACUTE GENERALIZED EXANTHEMATOUS PUSTULOSIS (AGEP) IS AN ADVERSE CUTANEOUS REACTION CHARACTERIZED BY STERILE PINPOINT NONFOLLICULAR PUSTULES ATOP AN ERYTHEMATOUS BACKGROUND. SYMPTOMS MOST OFTEN OCCUR IN THE SETTING OF MEDICATION EXPOSURE, SUCH AS SYSTEMIC ANTIBIOTICS, RAPIDLY BECOME GENERALIZED, FOLLOWED BY DESQUAMATION AND RESOLUTION WITHIN ABOUT TWO WEEKS OF DISCONTINUING THE OFFENDING TRIGGER. ALTHOUGH MOSTLY SELF-LIMITED WITHOUT SYSTEMIC INVOLVEMENT, SEVERE CASES ARE CLASSIFIED ALONGSIDE OTHER CUTANEOUS ADVERSE REACTIONS SUCH AS STEVENS-JOHNSON SYNDROME, TOXIC EPIDERMAL NECROLYSIS, AND DRUG REACTION WITH EOSINOPHILIA AND SYSTEMIC SYMPTOMS. TREATMENT IS PRIMARILY SUPPORTIVE, AND THE PROGNOSIS FOR COMPLETE RESOLUTION IS EXCELLENT. OFTEN REGARDED AS A TYPE IV HYPERSENSITIVITY REACTION, AN EXTENSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF AGEP IS LACKING. THIS ACTIVITY REVIEWS THE EVALUATION AND PROPOSED TREATMENT OF AGEP AND HIGHLIGHTS THE ROLE OF THE INTERPROFESSIONAL TEAM IN IDENTIFYING PATIENTS WITH THIS CONDITION TO IMPROVE PATIENT CARE.