Eczematous skin reaction after intravenous immunoglobulin therapy in axonal Guillain-Barré syndrome

Abstract

Background: Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment in Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is relatively easy to administer and safe due to infrequent, non-severe side effects. Adverse effects can include skin reactions, the causes of which have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we investigated skin reactions following IVIG treatment for acute inflammatory neuropathy. We examined the relationship between the clinical results in the neuropathy and the clinical profile of skin reactions.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients with skin reactions that developed after IVIG treatment in acute immune-mediated or inflammatory neuropathy [GBS or Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS)] based on the dermatologic evaluation.

Results: Ninety-six patients with acute inflammatory neuropathy were treated with IVIG during the study period. Thirteen cases (13.5%), with age at onset ranging from 22–69 years (mean, 50.3 years), developed skin reactions after IVIG treatment. The features accompanying skin reactions were hand eczema, including pompholyx (9/13, 82%), generalized eczematous eruption (2/13, 15.4%), and contact dermatitis, including folliculitis. The electrophysiological classification of 11 patients with classical GBS showed that nine patients (81.8 %) had axonal neuropathy, and one (9.1 %) had acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy.

Conclusions: Eczematous skin reactions or pompholyx are the most common skin reactions following IVIG treatment in axonal GBS. These reactions were relatively minor and recovered well. Although adverse skin reactions to IVIG were usually benign and the precise mechanism of this cutaneous eruption remains unknown, its occurrence within days of IVIG treatment can be managed effectively if recognized by neurologists.