High priority should be given to patients with serum-fixed syphilis

  A study from the Journal of Clinical Dermatology showed that some patients with serofixed syphilis had varying degrees of systemic involvement, suggesting that patients with serofixed syphilis (especially those with high titers) should be given high priority and actively screened for systemic involvement and for serologic recurrence, with targeted treatment based on test results.   Researchers at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College performed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), imaging and eye, ear, nose and throat examinations in patients with serum fixation of syphilis, as well as testing the patients’ blood biochemical indicators.  The toluidine red unheated serum test (TRUST) was consistently positive with titers ranging from 1:1 to 1:16. The patients were divided into two groups according to their TRUST titers: 24 cases in the high titer group (TRUST titer >= 1:8) and 30 cases in the low titer group (TRUST < 1:8); 3 of 54 patients (5.6%) had serum recurrence, 5 cases (9.3%) had routine CSF, and biochemical examination was abnormal, 14 cases (25.9%) had positive CSF syphilis spirochete particle agglutination test (TPPA), and 3 cases (5.6%) had positive CSF-TRUST. In the high titer group, aortic regurgitation was detected by cardiac ultrasound in 4 patients (16.7%), and femoral osteochondral hyperplasia or bone cortical changes were detected by radiography in 2 cases; no syphilis-related damage was found in other systemic examinations in all patients.