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Age and Ageing Advance Access originally published online on May 20, 2008
Age and Ageing 2008 37(4):483; doi:10.1093/ageing/afn106
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Copyright © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society.

Clinical Reminders

Could the 90s be a second childhood period? The case of Henoch-Schonlein purpura

Nikolaos K. Gatselis1, Sotirios Barbanis2, Fotini Karasavidou2 and George N. Dalekos1,*

1 Department of Medicine, Division of Internal Medicine and Research Lab of Internal Medicine, Medical School, University of Thessaly, 41222 Larissa, Greece
2 Department of Pathology, Medical School, University of Thessaly, 41222 Larissa, Greece

* To whom correspondence should be addressed E-mail: dalekos{at}med.uth.gr

Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) is a common systemic vasculitis, which usually affects children and is quite rare in adults [1]. Herein we report the oldest patient with HSP; a 90-year-old woman with purpuric lesions on her lower extremities and buttocks (see Appendix 1 in the supplementary data on the journal's website http://www.ageing.oxfordjournals.org). Other systemic complaints were absent although laboratory evaluation was normal. The diagnosis was based on the presence of palpable purpura and histological findings of cutaneous leucocytoclastic vasculitis with IgA-immunoglobulins and C3-deposits on the vessel walls. Other causes of leucocytoclastic vasculitis were excluded. Contrary to what has been reported in adults, HSP in this patient was almost ‘silent’ while similar to what is reported in most HSP cases during childhood, the disease was self-limited [2, 3]. This case study may suggest that HSP should be considered as a diagnosis irrespective of the severity of symptoms even at the extremes of age if at least a non-thrombocytopenic palpable purpura on the lower limbs and buttocks is present and an investigation for other causes of leucocytoclastic vasculitis is unrevealing.


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Supplementary data for this article are available online at http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org.


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  1. Ballinger S. Henoch-Schonlein purpura. Curr Opin Rheumatol (2003) 15:591–4.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
  2. Gatselis NK, Stefos A, Gioti C, et al. Primary biliary cirrhosis and Henoch-Schonlein purpura: report of two cases and review of the literature. Liver Int (2007) 27:280–3.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
  3. Pillebout E, Thervet E, Hill G, et al. Henoch-Schonlein Purpura in adults: outcome and prognostic factors. J Am Soc Nephrol (2002) 13:1271–8.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
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