2006 Abstracts - American Contact Dermatitis Society

PATCH TESTING PATIENTS ON ETANERCEPTEllen Roh, Matthew ZirwasUniversity of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PABackground: Studies have shown that immunosuppressants can cause falsenegativepatch test results. Thus, one might assume that patients on TNF-αinhibitors are not good patch testing candidates. However, we present twopatients on etanercept therapy who were patch tested with positive, relevantresults.Objective: To investigate the accuracy of patch testing in patients receivingetanercept.Methods: We conducted patch testing in two patients, both on etanercept, whowere referred to our contact dermatitis clinic.Results: Our first patient presented with a scalp and feet dermatitis. On patchtesting, he had 3+ reactions to neomycin, bacitracin, balsam of peru, and nickel; a2+ reaction to p-tert-butylphenol formaldehyde resin; and 1+ reactions to narcissusand dandelion. Our second patient was referred for a painful palmoplantardermatitis. She exhibited 3+ reactions to fragrances andmethyldibromoglutaronitrile/phenoxyethanol and 2+ reactions to bacitracin, ethylcyanoacrylate, other acrylates and sorbitan sesquioleate. Both patients improvedwith avoidance.Conclusion: Patch testing can be successfully performed on patients takingetanercept. Prospective studies with patch testing performed both while takingand not taking etanercept are required to determine if it has any effect on patchtesting results.20