Half a century of M35.4 in 36 publications.

First description of a new syndrome — diffuse fasciitis with eosinophilia, distinguished from scleroderma by the sparing of the fingers, the absence of Raynaud's phenomenon and the dramatic response to corticosteroids.

First large single-centre cohort (Mayo Clinic): 52 patients, the modern phenotype of EF — frequent flexion contractures (n = 29), associated morphea (n = 15), carpal tunnel syndrome (n = 12) and a handful of haematological associations.

Reference MRI series: fascial T2 hyperintensity and post-gadolinium enhancement are characteristic findings and correlate with disease activity, supporting MRI as a non-invasive tool for both diagnosis and monitoring.

The benchmark clinical review of the past 15 years — a synthesis of clinical presentation, the diagnostic workup and therapeutic options for what was still called Shulman disease at that time.

First formal set of diagnostic criteria for EF: one major criterion (skin/subcutaneous induration sparing the digits) plus minor criteria covering eosinophilia, hypergammaglobulinaemia, MRI and histology. Still the most cited framework.

Largest long-term cohort to date: 89 Mayo Clinic patients followed over 20 years. Most cases are self-limited once treated; combined corticosteroids and methotrexate produce the best outcomes, with disability concentrated in patients with a delayed start of therapy.

The most recent broad review in this corpus — what has moved in the last few years, and where the open questions now sit.

Seventeen patients from a Chinese neuromuscular centre. Skin thickening in all of them and a male predominance (70.6 %) — but eosinophilia in only 41.2 %, a reminder that a normal eosinophil count does not rule the diagnosis out.

Thirty cases of fasciitis appearing after immune-checkpoint-inhibitor therapy, median onset ten months into treatment and half of them in melanoma patients — a drug-triggered form that did not exist before modern oncology.

The largest pooled dataset available: 597 patients drawn from 476 published case reports. Mean age 44.5, sex ratio 1:1, eosinophilia in 90.2 %, response to treatment in 82.2 % — and relapse in 24.5 % of those who first responded. Most figures on our statistics page come from here.

A series concentrating on what happens beyond the skin: every patient had distal upper-limb thickening sparing the hands and feet, 87.5 % had raised acute-phase reactants, and only three-quarters had peripheral eosinophilia.

A German-language case report documenting the same patient side by side in ultrasound and MRI — useful because it shows what each modality does and does not reveal.

Eighteen patients reviewed at a tertiary centre; of the seven given intravenous immunoglobulin, five of the six with follow-up sustained both cutaneous and functional improvement. One of the few datasets on IVIG in refractory disease.

Six children diagnosed between the ages of 4 and 16 — a reminder that the adult diagnostic criteria are routinely applied to paediatric patients without having been validated in them.

Three patients developing EF after a SARS-CoV-2 infection — an early published series supporting a viral trigger for the disease in part of the population.

A systematic review of the imaging literature, pulling together which modalities have actually been used to support the diagnosis and what each one contributes.

A systematic review of the cases in which fasciitis preceded or accompanied a haematological malignancy — the argument for not assuming a new diagnosis is idiopathic.

A short clinical-image report given over entirely to the groove sign — valuable precisely because it shows the sign rather than describing it in words.

Fasciitis arising as a manifestation of chronic graft-versus-host disease, drawn from 118 patients followed in a multidisciplinary transplant clinic, with a review of the fascial manifestations of cGVHD alongside.

A concise radiological account of the MRI appearance of the disease, written for the reporting radiologist rather than the treating clinician.

A systematic review of every published case treated with a biologic — assembled because refractory disease has no trial evidence to fall back on.

A short editorial arguing that the disease sits in the gap between two specialties, and is missed when neither takes ownership of it.

A compact review running from what is known of the pathophysiology through to the treatment sequence, from one of the authors of the Japanese guideline.

A dermatology-side review of current concepts — the counterpart to the rheumatology reviews, and relevant because the first doctor to see the skin is often a dermatologist.

A Japanese consensus document pairing diagnostic criteria with a severity classification and management guidance — a criteria framework developed separately from Pinal-Fernandez 2014.

Twenty-seven cases compared histologically and immunophenotypically against morphea profunda — the study that addresses how far the two can actually be told apart down the microscope.

Updated practical review — diagnostic pitfalls, a treatment algorithm and a re-evaluation of biologics (rituximab, tocilizumab) for refractory disease.

Twelve patients given monthly high-dose intravenous methotrexate for five months; the modified skin score fell from 17.5 to 8.5. Registered as a trial (NCT00441961), but single-arm — there is no control group.

Sixteen patients with severe disease: ten on d-penicillamine plus corticosteroids, six on corticosteroids alone. The combination did better on both affected body-surface area and overall improvement — but the study states plainly that it was not randomised.

Three-centre cohort, n = 63: complete remission reached 64 % under prednisone + methotrexate versus 30 % under prednisone alone, establishing combination therapy as the de-facto first line.

A radiological reference on MR imaging of the fasciae: the typical appearances in eosinophilic fasciitis, its variants, and how to tell other fascial abnormalities apart from it.

Two cases plus a systematic review of the literature, focused specifically on which clinical variables predict how a patient will do.

A short report of fasciitis associated with simvastatin — an early entry in the drug-associated literature, decades before the checkpoint-inhibitor cases.

A contemporary review setting eosinophilic fasciitis alongside the eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome, written at the point when the two were being told apart.

Fasciitis induced by L-tryptophan, from the period when tryptophan supplements were under investigation as a trigger of fasciitis-like illness.

One of the earliest reviews of the syndrome, published five years after Shulman's report, while its boundary against scleroderma was still being drawn.