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Sweet's syndrome
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 05.07.2025
[ What causes Sweet's syndrome?
The cause of the disease is unknown. Concomitant malignancy, especially hematological, is often observed.
Sweet's syndrome, which is not associated with malignancy, mainly affects women aged 30-50 years, the ratio of women to men is 3:1 (men are usually over 60-90 years old). Sweet's syndrome may occur after respiratory disease, gastrointestinal infection, use of drugs. The histopathological feature is edema of the upper dermis with a dense infiltrate of neutrophils. Vasculitis may develop.
How to recognize Sweet's syndrome?
Patients develop fever, increased neutrophil counts, and dark red plaques and papules. Bullous and pustular lesions are rare. Lesions typically persist for days to weeks.
Sweet's syndrome should be differentiated from erythema multiforme, acute lupus erythematosus, centrifugal erythema, pyoderma gangrenosum, and erythema nodosum. Sometimes a combination of acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis and myeloproliferative disease is observed, and acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis can also occur in chronic myelocytic leukemia, acute myelocytic leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.
How is Sweet's syndrome treated?
Treatment involves systemic glucocorticoids, primarily prednisone 60 mg orally once daily for 3 weeks. Antipyretics are also recommended. In severe cases, Sweet's syndrome requires dapsone and potassium iodide.