Pyoderma gangrenosum associated with regional enteritis. Improvement in defective granulocyte function and healing of skin lesions during administration of clofazimine.

A defective uptake of oxygen by peripheral blood granulocytes during phagocytosis, indicating a subnormal phagocytic capacity, has been found in a patient with regional enteritis complicated by pyoderma gangrenosum (PG). During administration of clofazimine the granulocyte function normalized and the skin lesions healed. It is possible that a defective granulocyte function may sometimes be involved in the pathogenesis of PG and that a clofazimine-induced improvement in the function will favour healing of the lesions. The result of treatment in our patient and in other cases recently published indicates that the drug may be worth trying in PG.