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Refractory cutaneous ulcers in anti-MDA5 dermatomyositis were not associated with rapidly progressive interstitial lung disease, and responded to tadalafil

Ge Y, Jiang W, Lu X, Wang G, Shu X

Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism, 2025

1 citation

Abstract

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to analyze the characteristics of an ulcerative rash in dermatomyositis (DM) patients with anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 (anti-MDA5) antibody and to assess the efficacy of tadalafil in the management of refractory cutaneous ulcers.

METHODS

Medical records of DM patients with anti-MDA5 antibody were reviewed. Skin rash data, radiologic characteristic and serum markers were collected. Patients with refractory cutaneous ulcers treated with tadalafil were reviewed retrospectively.

RESULTS

Eighty-two consecutive cases with anti-MDA5-antibody positive DM (anti-MDA5 DM) were identified, including 62 (75.6 %) female patients. Approximately 95.0 % of the patients had interstitial lung disease (ILD) and 45.1 % had rapidly progressive ILD (RP-ILD). All patients (100 %) had typical skin rashes, such as Gottron's sign (87.8 %), heliotrope sign (69.5 %), and the holster sign (24.4 %). Twenty-six patients (31.7 %) had cutaneous ulcers. Univariate analysis showed that ulcer patients were prone to Gottron's sign (p = 0.026), perlungual erythematosus (p = 0.007), and arthritis (p = 0.031), while shortness of breath after exercise (p = 0.027) and RP-ILD (p = 0.024) are more likely to appear in patients with non-skin ulcers. Among the anti-MDA5 DM patients with skin ulcers, 10 (38.5 %) were refractory cutaneous ulcers, including five male patients. After tadalafil was added, eight (80 %) patients showed improvement in the physician…

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