Abstract: Objective To summarize the etiology and therapeutic regime of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis in 61 hospitalized patients. Methods A retrospective study was performed on 61 patients who were diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson syndrome （SJS） or toxic epidermal necrolysis（TEN） and hospitalized in Peking Union Medical College Hospital through July 1994 to May 2007. Of them, 16 were treated with intravenous immunoglobulins （IVIG） plus corticosteroid （IVIG group） and the other 45 with corticosteroid only （corticosteroid group）. SCORTEN was used to evaluate the severity and prognosis of the disease. The efficacy of therapeutic modalities was assessed by the following parameters: initial dose of corticosteroid, cumulative dose of corticosteroid before the decrease of its dose, controlling dose of corticosteroid, cumulative dose of IVIG, course of corticosteroid application before the decrease of its dose and hospitalization duration. Results The common drugs triggering SJS/TEN in these patients were nonsteroidal anti-inflammation drugs （26 cases）, anticonvulsants （15 cases）, antibiotics （10 cases）, sulfanilamides （3 cases）, other drugs （7 cases）. Of them, carbamazepine was the most sensitizing drug that induced 13 cases of drug eruption. The SCORTEN was significantly higher in IVIG group than in corticosteroid group（1.44 ± 1.21 vs 0.80 ± 1.10, P < 0.05）, whereas no difference was observed in cumulative dose of corticosteroid before the decrease in its dose, course of corticosteroid application before the decrease in its dose and hospitalization duration between the corticosteroid group and IVIG group（12.06 ± 4.32 mg/kg vs 12.52 ± 8.29 mg/kg, 7.81 ± 2.29 d vs 8.29 ± 4.18 d, 18.00 ± 5.92 d vs 21.07 ± 13.36 d, all P > 0.05）. In patients with SCORTEN score of 2, the combination of IVIG and corticosteroid shortened the duration of hospitalization from 27.57 ± 9.90 d to 14.50 ± 2.38 d （P < 0.05）. The incidence of complications was significantly higher in IVIG group than in corticosteroid group （43.8% vs 24.4%, P < 0.05）. The actual mortality was 12.5% and 4.4% in IVIG group and corticosteroid group respectively, which were significantly lower than the predicted value（12.9% and 7.9%, respectively）. Conclusion Corticosteroid and IVIG have beneficial effects on SJS/TEN.

Key words: Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis, Management