Vileana Vicente Lopez*, Rafael A. Rios Rivera, Lee Ming Shum and Milton Carrero
Urticaria is a common condition identified and treated in the primary care
setting. It is a cutaneous vascular reaction characterized by locally increased
vascular permeability. Clinically manifest as well circumscribed, intensely
pruritic, raised wheals lesions that resolve within 8 to 24 hours without
residual effects. Chronic urticaria, persist more than 24 hours and should
raise suspicion for systemic disease, especially when urticarial vasculitis
(UV) is present. UV is a small-vessel vasculitides, caused by leukocytoclastic
vasculitis, where skin lesions last between 24 to 72 hours and heals leaving
skin hyperpigmentation. Hypocomplementemic Urticarial vasculitis syndrome
(HUVS) is a rare disorder characterized by urticaria that persist more than
24 hours or recur at short interval. It is associated with connective tissue
diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). HUSV is considered
an independent immunological disease from SLE, or a subset of SLE with
shared clinical, laboratory and immunologic features.
