Cutaneous, skin histopathological manifestations and relationship to COVID‐19 infection patients

Li, Hongxin; Zhao, Yong; Zhou, Lin; Hu, Jin

BACKGROUND: COVID‐19 diseases have been a nationwide pandemic condition. However, cutaneous, skin histopathological manifestations of COVID‐19 infection are not well described. Our study aims are to present heterogeneous cutaneous, histopathological manifestations in COVID‐19 patients, to investigate the possible relationship between cutaneous manifestations and histopathological features in COVID‐19 infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a systemic review in PubMed database and Chinese medical journal search engines which were wangfang.data (http://www.wanfangdata.com.cn/), Science China (http://www.cnki.net/) until June 17(th), 2020. Search terms “COVID‐19”, “SARS‐Coronavirus‐2” and “Coronavirus” were used in combination with “cutaneous”, “rash”, “skin”, “dermatology”. RESULTS: 75 papers were included with confirmed COVID‐19 infection. The most frequent cutaneous manifestation of COVID‐19 present was erythema, nearly 38.4%. Trunk was the most affected location, presenting in 51.4% patients. Rash occurred before onset of other symptoms was in 5.3% patients. 77 patients were received treatments. Rash was dismissed in 49% patients, improved in 21.2% patients ranged from 0‐17 days. The histopathological examination present in 39 patients. CONCLUSION: Skin is one of target organs affected by COVID‐19 infection. Cutaneous manifestations should be paid more attention. It can help doctors diagnose COVID‐19 infection in prodromal stage, understand progression, and determine prognosis of COVID‐19 infection. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.