Toxic epidermal necrolysis from graft-vs-host disease. Occurrence in a patient with thymic hypoplasia.

An infant with diarrhea, failure to thrive, and a seborrhea-like skin eruption was thought to have fatal familial Leiner's syndrome. Treatment with nonirradiated plasma was followed by graft-vs-host disease and fatal toxic epidermal necrolysis; thymic hypoplasia was found at autopsy. Accurate diagnosis of immunodeficiency syndromes is essential to avoid potentially harmful therapy.