What are the causes and symptoms of toxic epidermal necrolysis?
The main cause of TEN is a severe drug reaction. Some investigators believe there may be additional infectious causes. A severe reaction in transplant patients, called graft-vs.-host disease, can also produce TEN. One study reported more than 100 different drugs as causes of TEN. The drugs most commonly implicated, however, include antibacterial sulfonamides such as sulfadiazine, antibiotics such as aminopenicillins and cephalosporins, and anticonvulsants like phenytoin. TEN is extremely rare. Researchers estimate that there are 0.2 cases per million users of aminopenicillins and 4.5 cases per million users of sulfonamides. Exactly what leads to detachment of the epidermis remains unclear. People with TEN seem to have difficulty metabolizing the offending drug. Some researchers suggest that certain substances that should be cleared from the body instead get deposited on the outer shell of the epidermis, causing an immune response that leads the body to “reject” the skin. Source: The Ga
