Towards a combined pediatric rheumatology-dermatology clinic: One-year experience

OBJECTIVE: Dermatological findings may be the sole complaints of diseases in pediatric rheumatology practice. Evaluating patients with a multi-disciplinary approach may facilitate access to an accurate diagnosis. Herein, we reported our one-year experience in collaborative pediatric rheumatology-dermatology. METHODS: Patients were initially evaluated separately in pediatric rheumatology-dermatology outpatient clinics. Subsequently, once a week, the final diagnoses of patients with suspected skin rash were collaboratively discussed by two pediatric rheumatologists and a dermatologist. RESULTS: A hundred and one patients were included in this study. Of these 101 patients, 65 attended to dermatology outpatient clinic initially, while the remaining 36 applied to the pediatric rheumatology outpatient clinic. The most common mucocutaneous finding was squamous lesions in 30 patients, followed by erythematous lesions in 28 and mucosal ulcers in 14. Finally, 69 patients were diagnosed with a rheumatic disease while 32 had differential diagnoses apart from rheumatic diseases. CONCLUSION: Patients with rheumatologic diseases frequently present with only mucocutaneous findings. Thus, a detailed examination of the mucosa, skin and its attachments is of paramount importance in rheumatology practice. We suggest that a close interaction between pediatric rheumatology-dermatology and the formation of consensus clinics are going to assist clinicians in making easier and accurate diagnoses.