Surgical management of Pyoderma gangrenosum

Pyoderma gangrenosum is a rare affection of unknown etiology, which is often associated with systemic diseases such as chronic inflammatory bowel disease, hematologic disorders, carcinomas and arthritis. Treatment may include topical corticosteroids or calcineurin inhibitors in combination with systemic corticosteroids, cyclosporine A, azathioprine, cyclophosphamide, mycophenolate mofetil, intravenous immunoglobulins or monoclonal antibodies against TNF alpha but all these approaches are off-label. Surgical therapy is difficult because of pathergy. Nevertheless, after having stopped the inflammation, the ulcers can be treated by split thickness skin grafts and simultaneous immunosuppression. We present three cases with successful surgical treatment.