Sweet's syndrome in a skin clinic in Singapore: an epidemiology study

Thirty-nine patients with Sweet's syndrome seen at the National Skin Centre in Singapore between 1982 and 1994 were reviewed. Diagnosis was based on the presence of acute tender, erythematous plaques and nodules, and histologically on a dense dermal infiltrate composed predominantly of neutrophils. The female to male ratio was 1.6:1. Only 4 patients had an underlying malignancy: 3 had haematologic malignancies and 1 had nasopharyngeal carcinoma, all of which were present before the onset of Sweet's syndrome. The arms and legs were the sites most frequently involved. Other findings were fever, oral ulceration, arthralgia and weight loss. Laboratory examinations were not found to be very helpful. Most of the patients responded to oral prednisolone although relapses were noted in 11 patients.