Pathogenesis and treatment of skin lesions caused by sulfur mustard

Abstract

Objective: Sulfur mustard (SM) exposure intensely causes lesions that range in severity from mild erythema to blister formation and necrosis. This review will discuss acute and long-term skin consequences due to exposure to SM and different kinds of medical prophylaxis and therapeutics against SM-induced skin lesions.

Methods: Literature survey of medical case reports, clinical studies, and original articles was performed using PubMed, Medline, and the Cochrane Database (1917–2011 March). Key words included sulfur mustard, skin, toxicity, pathogenesis, cancer, treatment.

Results: SM-induced damage to the skin is characterized by edema, inflammation, and cell death mainly of the basal keratinocyte layer, with varying immunological and pathological changes in the acute phase. Also, xerosis, hypo or hyper pigmentation, scars, and rarely, skin cancers are long-term cutaneous effects. So far,the combination therapy of topical drugs and oral antihistamines, also iodine and antitumor necrosis factor alpha antibodies, are effective remedies in the treatment of skin lesions.

Conclusion: The requirement for preparedness in the dermatological community concerning SM exposure is underlined. Novel treatments for prevention and therapeutics against SM toxicity and carcinogenicity are reviewed.

Keywords::

• Sulfur mustard
• skin
• toxicity
• pathogenesis
• cancer
• treatment
• review

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Majid Shohrati from Chemical Injuries Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of medical sciences, Tehran, Iran for his knowledgeable help in the conduction of this study.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.