Oral pemphigus vulgaris: clinicopathologic study of 20 cases

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a vesiculobullous lesion that produces intraepithelial blisters in skin and mucous membrane. The oral mucosa is often the first site to be affected by the disease. Although oral PVis a well characterized condition, the detailed clinical and histopathological study in Malabar population has not been reported. A clinicopathologic study of 20 cases of oral PV observed over a span of 2 years from January 2004 to January 2006 is reported. For these 20 cases, the mean age was 42.3 years and male:female ratio was 2:3. The most commonly affected sites were the buccal mucosa and palate. Histopathologic examination with direct immunofluorescence was the method of diagnosis in all cases. Suprabasilar clefting with acantholytic cells can be seen histopathologically and IgG positivity in direct immunofluorescence in all cases that have been studied.