ROLE OF DIRECT IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE IN AUTOIMMUNE BULLOUS DISORDERS: A REPLACEMENT OR REINFORCEMENT FOR HISTOPATHOLOGY ?

Dr Deeksha Singh; Dr Shilpi Agarwal; Dr Ram Chander; Dr Kiran Agarwal

Volume : IX, Issue : III, March - 2019

ROLE OF DIRECT IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE IN AUTOIMMUNE BULLOUS DISORDERS: A REPLACEMENT OR REINFORCEMENT FOR HISTOPATHOLOGY ?

Dr Deeksha Singh, Dr Shilpi Agarwal, Dr Ram Chander, Dr Kiran Agarwal

Abstract :

Autoimmune bullous diseases (AIBD) constitute a wide spectrum of dermatological disorders. The diagnosis is often made by histopathology in correlation with clinical examination. In a resource poor country like India, the direct immunofluorescence (DIF) is still not widely available because of high cost of establishing the immunofluorescence laboratory, requirement of technical skill & expertise in interpretation. However, DIF is a valuable tool for diagnosing & classifying various AIBD. In this study, we analysed & correlated histopatologic & DIF findings in 29 cases of AIBD. The DIF was found to be highly useful particularly in cases with non–specific clinico–histopathologic features with a sensitivity of 86.2% vis–à–vis histopathology with a sensitivity of 82.7%. However, like any test it has got its limitaions that may lead to a false negative DIF & hence lower its sensitivity. Therefore it should not replace histopathology rather it should be used in conjunction with histopathology