Idiopathic Lobular Panniculitis: Diagnosis, Symptoms and Current Treatment Progress

Panniculitis refers to the inflammation of the subcutaneous fat tissue. In this category of panniculitis, there is one type called idiopathic lobular panniculitis, which means the cause is unknown. The main symptoms of idiopathic lobular panniculitis include the presence of painful red nodules or plaques together with fever, pain of lower limbs and changes of skin pigmentation. Different people have different clinical manifestation characteristics. The age, sex, and background of the people affected are all different. Different subtypes exist. The diagnosis depends on the integration of all aspects. ILP essentially belongs to an exclusionary diagnosis, and it is necessary to rule out secondary factors such as infection, drugs, pancreatic diseases, α1-antitrypsin deficiency, autoimmune diseases, trauma and malignant tumors. The symptom mechanism is mainly related to inflammatory cell infiltration in fat lobules, fat necrosis and post-inflammatory pigmentation, and it can involve systems such as the liver, blood vessels, joints, intestines and lungs. In terms of treatment, glucocorticoids such as prednisolone are commonly used drugs. Immunosuppressants such as tacrolimus, thalidomide and biological agents such as infliximab and adalimumab can be used for refractory cases, but the latter two are still exploratory treatments.