Erythema nodosum and antitubercular therapy.

OBJECTIVE

To establish the efficacy of antitubercular therapy in patients with erythema nodosum with a highly positive Mantoux test.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of all patients diagnosed with idiopathic erythema nodosum with a highly positive Mantoux reaction between 1988 and 2001 was undertaken. In the absence of any other clinical or investigative evidence of active tuberculosis they were treated with antitubercular therapy.

RESULTS

Out of a total of 52 patients diagnosed with idiopathic erythema nodosum with a strongly positive Mantoux test (average of 19 mm), data could be analyzed in only 47 patients. After treatment with antitubercular drugs, new lesions stopped appearing in 45 patients within 6-8 weeks and subsided in two. The therapy was well tolerated except for jaundice in one patient and transient urticarial lesions in another.

CONCLUSIONS

Antitubercular therapy definitely has a role in the management of patients with erythema nodosum, even in the absence of a detectable focus of tubercular infection, especially in regions where tuberculosis is endemic.