Cutaneous and oral lesions in 32 children after renal transplantation

A variety of skin and oral mucosal lesions appearing in patients after renal transplantation have been reported in the literature. Because most of these data pertain to adults, we studied a group of children with kidney transplants to investigate the occurrence of skin and/or oral mucosal lesions, compare them with those observed in adults, and contribute to the knowledge of the pathogenesis of these disorders. Our series consisted of 32 patients aged 5 to 18 years, all of whom had skin and/or oral mucosal lesions that were classified as being either drug induced, probably related to uremia, or due to other causes. A possible relationship between drug-induced lesions and the therapeutic immunosuppressive regimen in use was investigated. In addition, two formerly unreported lesions were seen in these patients: hypertrophy of lingual fungiform papillae and onychoschizia. The former occurred only in children receiving cyclosporine. Compared with adults, the frequency of gingival hypertrophy was higher and that of infectious disease was lower.