Forum for Nordic Dermato-Venereology Nr 1, 2018 | Page 21

Dissertation Four Malmö theses The Department of Occupational and Environmental Dermatology became responsible for occupational dermatology in southern Sweden in 1995. Within the staff, virtually all dermatologists, chemists, and research nurses have had their own research pro- jects resulting in theses. Dermatologists from other departments in Sweden and abroad have also written their theses in Malmö. Since the first thesis was defended in 1997, 16 in total have been completed. The last year, 2017, has been special with 4 theses defended. However, this year has in another way been typical for the research performed at the Malmö department as the first thesis was defended by our research nurse Ann-Kristin Björk. She was followed by Annarita Antelmi from Bari, Italy. Annar ita is both a specialist in occupational medicine and dermatology. The third thesis was written by Haneen Hamada, a chemist at our department. The last Malmö thesis this year was published by the dermatologist Ingrid Siemund from the Department of Dermatology and Venereology in Lund. Malmö in November 2017 Magnus Bruze Patch Testing with Metals with Focus on Gold A nn -K ristin B jörk , N urse , P h D Department of Occupational and Environmental Dermatology, Skåne University Hospital, SE-214 21 Malmö, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected] Ann-Kristin Björk, on March 3, 2017, defended her doctoral thesis titled “Patch testing with metals with focus on gold. Available from: http://portal.research.lu.se/ws/files/21080493/Ann_Kristin_Bj_rk_009_.pdf. In this thesis the aims were to improve our basic knowledge of gold as a contact allergen and our understanding of the patch testing technique. The thesis is based on 4 studies: I. An experimental study where dilution series were patch-tested simultaneously. II. A provocation study where volunteers (none had any known allergy to gold or nickel) were exposed to gold and stainless steel discs. III. An experimental double-blind study where patients with lichen sclerosus and age- and sex-correlated controls were patch-tested. IV. A retrospective study with patients tested with gold and nickel between 1995 and 2014. Aims The aims were (i) to investigate the reproducibility of the patch test technique with regard to where the allergen is patch tested and the reactivity; (ii) to investigate if gold is released on the skin when the object is in prolonged contact in an occlusive environment, and to find if a systemic uptake can be found from this exposure; (iii) to investigate whether contact allergy, and especially contact allergy with regard to metals, is more frequent in patients with genital lichen sclerosus et atrophicus; and (iv) to retrospectively investigate the dermatitis patients, patch-tested in Malmö, with regard to the metals gold and nickel. Forum for Nord Derm Ven 2018, Vol. 23, No. 1 Ann-Kristin Björk with Professor Lennart Emtestam (Opponent), De- partment of Dermatology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm to the left and Associate professor Cecilia Svedman (Main Supervisor), Department of Occupational and Environmental Dermatology, Lund University, Malmö to the right. 19