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CASE REPORT
Wells syndrome associated with lung cancer
  1. Rui Pedro Santos1,
  2. Sofia Daniela Carvalho2,
  3. Olga Ferreira1,
  4. Celeste Brito1
  1. 1Department of Dermatology, Hospital de Braga, Braga, Portugal
  2. 2Department of Pathology, Hospital de Braga, Braga, Portugal
  1. Correspondence to Dr Rui Pedro Santos, drruisantos{at}hotmail.com

Summary

Wells syndrome (WS) or eosinophilic cellulitis is a rare, idiopathic, inflammatory dermatosis. The typical clinical presentation is urticarial plaque without preferential location that usually heals without scarring. We present a 62-year-old man with history of lung cancer that had undergone a right superior lobectomy 12 months previously. The patient had a relapsing dermatosis beginning about 6 months before the diagnosis of the lung cancer, characterised by pruritic, erythematous plaques located on the trunk and arms. These lesions spontaneously resolved within a few weeks without scarring. A skin biopsy revealed findings compatible with WS. Several diseases have been associated with WS. These include haematological diseases, fungal, parasitic and viral infections, drug reactions and rarely non-haematological malignancies. We present a case of this rare syndrome in a patient with history of lung cancer that we believe acted as a triggering event. To our knowledge, this is the second case reporting this association.

  • dermatology
  • medical education
  • lung cancer (oncology)

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Footnotes

  • Contributors The authors RPS and OF contributed to the planning, conducting and reporting of the work. The authors RPS, SDC and CB contributed to the conception and design of the work. All the authors are responsible for the overall content.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent Obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.