Deverji's disease after COVID-19: Case report

Deverji's disease is a rare idiopathic skin disease characterized by keratinization disorder and manifested in follicular hyperkeratosis, orange-red peeling plaques, palmar-plantar keratodermia with the possible development of erythroderma. The etiopathogenesis of this dermatosis is still unknown. There are such possible trigger factors as traumatization, ultraviolet radiation, taking certain medications, autoimmune and oncological diseases, bacterial or viral infection, vaccination. The presence of familial cases is due to a mutation in the CARD14 gene. Diagnosis of the disease is based on characteristic clinical symptoms. The histological picture has no pathognomonic features; however, a biopsy is necessary for differential diagnosis with other papulosquamous dermatoses. Treatment of Deverji's disease remains a difficult task, since the disease pathogenesis has not been fully studied.

The article describes a clinical case of Deverji's disease manifestation in a 64-year-old woman who had suffered COVID-19 infection twice. She was admitted to the Department of Dermatology and Venerology (Sechenov University) with complaints of skin rashes on her face, trunk, upper and lower extremities, accompanied by severe itching. The absence of any distinctive clinical and histological changes, the torpidity of the skin process and resistance to the therapy made it difficult to make a diagnosis. After the emergence of characteristic clinical symptoms (palmar-plantar keratodermia, salmon-tinged rashes with islands of healthy skin), as well as the results of repeated histological examination (alternating areas of ortho- and parakeratosis; uneven granular layer; vacuolization of basal cells; uneven broad acantholytic strands; loosened dermo-epidermal junction; small perivascular lymph-macrophage infiltrates) Deverji's disease was diagnosed.

The use of standard therapies (systemic glucocorticosteroid therapy, methotrexate, topical therapy) did not give any results, and therefore it was decided to initiate the netakimab. After 5 injections, the first positive results were obtained in the form of the color paling and a decrease in the number of rashes, palmar-plantar keratodermia regression and improvement of the patient psychoemotional state. After 11 injections, almost complete remission was achieved, and treatment was continued until all symptoms disappeared completely.

The article provides a literature review of the etiopathogenesis, clinical manifestations and treatment methods of Deverji's disease. The described clinical case is the fifth example in the world of the Deverji's disease manifestation after a COVID-19 infection, and is also the first case of the IL-17 inhibitor netakimab successful use for the disease treatment.