[Erythema nodosum in the clinical picture of internal diseases].

A study of 64 patients with erythema nodosum (EN), including 53 females, showed sarcoidosis diagnosed in 65% of the cases to be the principal cause of EN. It was followed by drug disease (10%), tuberculosis (3%), pregnancy or labor (5%), tumors (3%) and other underlying diseases (Behcet's diseases, streptococcal infection, histoplasmosis, nonspecific aorto-arteritis, chronic active hepatitis). The cause of EN could not be identified in 5% of patients only. Two or three possible etiologic factors were identified in 17%. Sarcoidosis combined with EN regressed without treatment in 82% of cases. Corticosteroid therapy was only given in cases of pulmonary lesion or other systemic manifestations. Purposeful investigation is believed to be capable of establishing etiology of EN in virtually all cases.