%0 Journal Article %T Eritrodermia: estudo cl¨ªnico-laboratorial e histopatol¨®gico de 170 casos %A Fernandes %A Nurimar C. %A Pereira %A Fab¨ªola de Souza e Mello %A Maceira %A Juan Pi£¿eiro %A Cuzzi %A Tullia %A Dresch %A Tha¨ªs Felix Leit£¿o Rosa %A Ara¨²jo %A Paula Pereira %J Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia %D 2008 %I Sociedade Brasileira de Dermatologia %R 10.1590/S0365-05962008000600005 %X background - exfoliative dermatitis (erythroderma) is a rare, severe syndrome, frequently of unknown etiology. the hospitalization is required for the initial evaluation and to establish the treatment. objective - to determine the clinical, laboratorial and histologic profile of erythrodermic inpatients at hucff-ufrj. methods - in the period 1990-2007, 170 patients were submitted to complete blood cell count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, blood urea, glucose and creatinine, liver function tests, proteinogram, circulating s£¿£¿zary cells count, chest x rays and skin biopsy of three areas. results - from 92 male and 78 female aging 30 to 80 years, a preexisting dermatosis was identified in 99 cases (58,23%), reaction to internal drugs in 37 cases (21,77%), t cell cutaneous lymphomas in 18 cases (10,58%); in 16 cases (9,47%), a causative factor could not be disclosed. chills, pruritus, lymphadenopathy, lower limbs edema were the most freq¨¹ent signs/symptoms. elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, eosinophilia, leukocytosis, peripheral blood lymphocytosis and anemia were the most common laboratory findings. among the idiopathic cases, two histological patterns were noticed: psoriasiform and inespecific dermatitis. conclusion - the main cause of erythroderma was psoriasis; three simultaneous skin biopsies can enhance the accuracy of the histopathologic diagnosis. %K dermatitis %K exfoliative %K dermatitis %K exfoliative [diagnosis] %K dermatitis %K exfoliative [etiology] %K psoriasis. %U http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0365-05962008000600005&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en