Prof. Dr. Krisztian Gaspar

Prof. Dr. Krisztian Gaspar
Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Ungaria

Chronic inflammatory intestinal disorders in hidradenitis suppurativa

Krisztián Gáspár1,2,3, Károly Palatka4, Andrea Szegedi1,2,3
1Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
2Doctoral School of Clinical Immunology and Allergology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
3ELKH-DE Allergology Research Group, Debrecen, Hungary
4Department of Gastroenterology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) patients often experience gastrointestinal symptoms with possible chronic inflammatory intestinal disorders (CIID) in the background. The frequency of CIID in HS has not been investigated.
The pilot study was set to determine the occurrence of CIID in HS and characterise this population. Besides, the feasibility of fecal calprotectin (FC) test and anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibody (ASCA) levels was investigated.
Newly diagnosed and untreated HS patients (n=74) arrived in the Department of Dermatology, University of Debrecen were referred to a gastroenterologist for FC followed by colonoscopy. C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell count, nucleotide-binding-oligomerisation-domain-containing-protein-2 (NOD2) polymorphism, and ASCA levels were measured. Patients were divided into HS-only and HS+CIID groups, based on the absence or presence of CIID. Laboratory and clinical parameters were compared in these groups.
The CIID frequency in HS was 28.4% (n=21/74), based on colonoscopy and histology. Significantly more patients had severe disease in the HS+CIID group compared with the HS-only group, and BMI was significantly lower in the HS+CIID group (28.20±5.58 vs. 32.74±6.45, p=0.006). FC positivity occurred significantly more (90.48% vs. 3.77%, p<0.001), and ASCA IgG levels were significantly elevated (22.08±23.07 vs 8.41±10.94 U/mL, p=0.001) in HS+CIID patients compared with HS-only patients. FC test identified HS+CIID patients with high specificity and sensitivity.
In conclusion, a high frequency of CIID was detected in the examined HS population. The non-invasive FC test has high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing CIID in HS patients. Concomitant CIID and HS may indicate the need to start early biological treatment.

Scurt CV

Krisztian Gaspar, MD, PhD is graduated in 2000 at the University of Debrecen Medical School, Debrecen, Hungary.
He is a board certified (1) dermato-venereologist, (2) allergologist-clinical immunologist and (3) clinical pharmacologist.
He is an assistant professor at the Dept. of Dermatology and Dept. of Dermatological Allergology of the University of Debrecen, in Debrecen, Hungary.
His main research interests are psoriasis and atopic dermatitis (AD). He defended his academic degree (PhD) by his research completed on the regulative T cell impairment and remodelling in AD. With international scholarships he extended his clinical and research experience abroad, by spending two years in Germany (Düsseldorf, Kassel, Frankfurt) and in the UK (London).
He is a working member of 5 international dermatological societies.
He has spoken and presented lectures or posters in over 25 international conferences.
He published over 80 papers in national and international journals and 6 book chapters. His cumulative impact factor is over 185, Hirsch index is 16, and total citation is over 700.
For his work he has been awarded by EADV (Leadership Development Initiative Scholarship), ESDR (Research Fellow Award), ILDS (Young Dermatologist International Achievement Award), AAD (Annual Meeting Poster Exhibit Scholarship) and ISDS (Perry Robins Scholarship Award).