Chronic ulcerative stomatitis is characterized by painful, recurring sores in the mouth. Thus far, it has been diagnosed most frequently in white women in their 40's and 50's and may appear similar to oral erosive lichen planus. Only 39 cases of CUS have been reported in the English-language medical literature since it was identified as a clinically distinct condition in 1989, but it is likely under-diagnosed because of low awareness among clinicians and the extensiveness of the testing that would confirm its presence.
"Currently, diagnosing CUS requires a surgical biopsy which then must be sent to an outside lab for special processing for immunofluorescence microscopic examination. Accurate diagnosis is important because the usual treatment option for immunologically-mediated diseases, corticosteroids, is often not effective in treating CUS," said senior author, Lynn Solomon, DDS, MS, associate professor in the department of oral and maxillofacial pathology at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM).
