Treatment of Sweet's syndrome (active febrile neutrophilic dermatosis) with indomethacin.

Acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis was first reported by Sweet in 1964. Sweet demonstrated the value of steroid therapy in these cases. Many authors have since confirmed the efficacy of steroids in treating this usually self-limiting, but often temporarily disabling, process. This case report and review concerns a patient with Sweet's syndrome in whom dramatic relief of severe arthralgias, myalgias, and painful skin lesions occurred using indomethacin. Steroids were not used because of the good response to an empiric trial of indomethacin and the likelihood of concurrent histoplasmosis.