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Chronic Ulcerative Stomatitis

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Diseases of the Oral Mucosa

Abstract

Chronic ulcerative stomatitis (CUS) is a recently described mucocutaneous disease characterized by involvement of mucosal surfaces and rarely, skin. It primarily affects older, mostly white women. Clinically, CUS patients exhibit erosive or ulcerative lesions of oral mucosa resembling erosive lichen planus and/or desquamative gingivitis. Routine histology may exhibit features of lichenoid mucositis and is non-diagnostic. Direct immunofluorescence (DIF) studies of mucosal or skin biopsies reveal a unique speckled pattern of IgG bound to nuclei of keratinocytes of the basal and parabasal cell layers. Management is usually perplexing as CUS is resistant to standard treatments available for lichenoid mucositis, including topical or systemic corticosteroids, and immunomodulatory medications. However, long-lasting favorable clinical responses may be achieved with hydroxychloroquine pharmacotherapy.

This chapter discusses the clinical features, including demographics and differential diagnosis, diagnostic features, including histology and immunofluorescence findings, as well as pathophysiology and management of CUS, to further define this rare but significant clinical entity.

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Correspondence to Mohammed N. Islam .

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Islam, M.N., Alramadhan, S., Solomon, L. (2021). Chronic Ulcerative Stomatitis. In: Schmidt, E. (eds) Diseases of the Oral Mucosa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82804-2_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82804-2_14

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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