Author: Gabriela Stoleriu

An Overview of Panniculitis – A Diagnostic Challenge for Dermatologists and Pathologists

The term "panniculitis" refers to a heterogeneous group of conditions that involve inflammation of the subcutaneous cellular tissue. Although there is no universally accepted classification of panniculitis, to facilitate the diagnosis, they were divided into two large classes, based on the histopathological criteria: predominantly lobular and predominantly septal panniculitis. Depending on the presence or absence of vascular damage, each of the two classes mentioned above is divided in turn into panniculitis without vasculitis and panniculitis with vasculitis. The diagnosis of various types of panniculitis can sometimes be very difficult, due to the histopathological changes that occur in the various evolutionary stages of the lesions. Thus, the positive diagnosis relies on the corroboration of clinical data, histopathological examination, and ancillary laboratory tests. We provide an overview of the clinical and histopathological features of panniculitis, classified according to the histopathological criteria.

The Amazing History of Methotrexate – 75 Years Later from its Discovery, Still the “Golden Standard” Therapy

More than 75 years after its accidental discovery, methotrexate remains an important treatment option for many diseases. Whether it is various hematological and non-hematological neoplasms, rheumatological, dermatological, or other conditions, methotrexate remains in scope. For rheumatoid arthritis, current clinical guidelines (EULAR, ACR) recommend methotrexate as the first therapeutic option. This article aims to highlight important moments in the history of this remarkable drug, to review the literature on its mechanisms of action and the arguments for which after more than half a century, methotrexate remains the gold standard in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis but also an important option for treatment of psoriasis vulgaris (PV) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

New pathophysiological aspects in chronic venous disease

Chronic venous disease has been pathology of great interest over time. With its large prevalence among the world population (10-33% adult woman and 10-20% of men) through profound socio-professional implications that affect the quality of life of patients, chronic venous disease is a real public health problem, being an important cause of morbidity and disability, a permanent area of research in the medical-pharmaceutical field. Special attention is now given to identifying the mechanisms and stages of disease development. From studies that have highlighted the importance of venous hypertension as an essential element in the development of the disease, to this day it has come up to demonstrating the fundamental role of the venous endothelium and glycocalyx in triggering and progressing of chronic venous disease. Biochemical, immunohistochemical, and functional investigations have allowed the evaluation of changes that occur in cellular metabolism and evidence of some immune-vascular factors responsible for vascular alterations in chronic venous disease: specialized receptors, adhesion molecules, cytokines, matrix and metalloproteinases. The analysis of the pathophysiology of chronic venous disease is still a vast area open to scientific research.