What lichen planus patients die of. A retrospective study.

The causes of death of 50 patients who had had lichen planus have been investigated and compared with those of 50 patients with psoriasis and with those of the general population. Patients with lichen planus were as old as those with psoriasis and in the general population at the time of death, but the diseases causing death differed. Malignant tumors, particularly those of the gut and the bladder, and malignant hemopathies exceeded the expected prevalence. In addition, autoimmune diseases were more common than in patients with psoriasis and in the general population. Multiple sclerosis and primitive pulmonary fibrosis have never been described before in patients with lichen planus.