الفهرس 
A TOPIC D ERMATITISOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 86 |  |  |
| | | from | 86 | | |
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is one of the most common inflammatory skin conditions, and is characterized by a significant activation of T cell in lesional and even non-lesional skin. The thymus is a key organ of the cellular immune response early in life.
Purpose: We sought to investigate the thymic size, in terms of thymic index, in infants and young children with atopic dermatitis (AD) its relation to disease severity.
Methods: We conducted a controlled cross-sectional study on 50 Pediatric patients, aged 4 years or less, with physician-diagnosed AD (n=50), in comparison to 50 healthy matched controls. They were investigated for thymic indices by ultrasonography and complete blood counts with manual differential counts. The study was carried out in the Pediatric Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology Unit, Children’s Hospital, Ain Shams University.
Results: Thymic indices of our patients ranged between 0.52 to 74.4 cm3 with median (IQR) 1.65 (0.66 to 7.04) cm3. Thymic indices were lower among cases than controls [median (IQR): 6.50 (2.40 to 10.80) cm3], but the difference did not reach statistical significance (p=0.014). Among patients with AD, thymic indices correlated positively and significantly with the oSCORAD index (p=0.001), and the oSCORAD index correlated positively as well with the absolute lymphocyte count (p= 0.002). Boys had higher frequency of responders to treatment of AD compared to girls (p=0.005). The non-responders to AD treatment showed youngest age of onset of AD (p=0.003) and highest oSCORAD index (p=0.001).
Conclusion: Thymic indices are comparable between AD patients and healthy controls, but within the AD patients, thymic indices correlate positively with AD disease severity. The positive correlation of oSCORAD to thymic index and lymphocyte counts reflects the underlying immune dysregulation among AD patients. Our conclusions are limited by the small sample size and the lack of basal thymic indices before development of AD