About

Ingrid Polcari, MD, is the Vice Chair of Education and an Associate Professor in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Minnesota. She is involved in pediatric specialty care, including the Pediatric Specialty Care-Explorer Clinic and Pediatric Specialty Care-St. Paul. Her clinical practice is focused on pediatric dermatology, and she is associated with the Medical School's Department of Dermatology located at the Phillips-Wangensteen Building in Minneapolis. Dr. Polcari's role includes overseeing educational activities within the department, contributing to the training of medical students and residents, and participating in research related to dermatology. Her professional responsibilities also encompass administrative duties supporting the department's educational mission.

Research topics

• Dermatology
• Medicine
• Developmental psychology
• Anesthesia
• Pediatrics
• Surgery
• Pathology
• Clinical psychology
• Psychology
• Internal medicine

Selected publications

• PA11 An indolent course of paediatric primary cutaneous γ/δ T-cell lymphoma

  British Journal of Dermatology · 2024-06-28

  articleOpen access

  Abstract A 16-year-old girl with a history of antinuclear antibody (ANA) positivity, Raynaud phenomenon, arthralgias and night sweats presented to our paediatric dermatology clinic for relapsing and remitting tender subcutaneous nodules on the trunk and extremities over the past year. The nodules arise spontaneously within a couple of days and resolve over a few days or up to a month later without overlying skin changes or ulceration. At one time, she had six nodules altogether, but typically she has one to four nodules that come and go every month. Prior rheumatology evaluation had considered systemic lupus erythematosus; however, multiple repeated autoimmune serologies had returned negative, including repeat ANAs, extractable nuclear antigen antibody panels, and DNA double-stranded antibodies. Physical exam at the initial dermatology visit demonstrated a single small deep subcutaneous nodule on the left buttock. Inflammatory panniculitis was suspected and a biopsy was considered, but it was ultimately deferred given that the present nodule was very deep and already resolving. The patient returned to clinic a year later given continued formation of subcutaneous nodules. An incisional punch biopsy from her right flank was performed, which revealed a subcutaneous, predominantly lobular infiltrate of mostly CD3-positive T cells with prominent atypia, high Ki-67 labelling, significant positivity on T-cell receptor δ immunostaining and cytotoxic markers, and a positive T-cell gene rearrangement study. These findings were consistent with primary cutaneous γ/δ T-cell lymphoma (PCGD-TCL). The patient was subsequently referred to haematology and oncology. Peripheral blood smear, positron emission tomography scan, and bone marrow biopsy were reassuring, with no evidence of haemophagocytic syndrome or malignancy. Treatment with methotrexate was initiated and the patient experienced some mild improvement initially; however, the nodules soon returned to the same frequency and intensity as before. Interestingly, she did report resolution of her night sweats since starting methotrexate. Currently, she is seeking additional expert opinions with consideration for a repeat biopsy, as well as second-line therapies such as ciclosporin, mycophenolate or bexarotene. PCGD-TCL is a rare lymphoma of γ/δ T cells that usually presents with generalized subcutaneous nodules or ulceronecrotic plaques, and is classically associated with a poor prognosis. The apparent indolent course in this patient supports the notion that PCGD-TCL may be more heterogeneous than traditionally described, and a subset of PCGD-TCL follows a more indolent course analogous to the α/β phenotype of subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma. This case also highlights a rare paediatric presentation of PCGD-TCL and the often overlapping clinical and microscopic features of the panniculitic cutaneous lymphomas with lupus panniculitis.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A retrospective case series: Unique clinical presentation and treatment outcomes of Trichophyton violaceum and soudanense tinea in a pediatric population

  Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology · 2023-05-22 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• A 16-year-old female with a bullous rash

  Paediatrics & Child Health · 2023-04-27

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Journal Article A 16-year-old female with a bullous rash Get access Matthew J Mahoney, DO, Matthew J Mahoney, DO Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA Correspondence: Matthew J. Mahoney, Department of Pediatrics, M136, 1st Floor, East Building, 2450 Riverside Ave Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA. E-mail: Mahon491@umn.edu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9482-9607 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Ingrid C Polcari, MD Ingrid C Polcari, MD Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USADepartment of Dermatology, Division of Pediatric Dermatology, University of Minnesota, Minnapolis, MN, USA Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Paediatrics & Child Health, Volume 28, Issue 6, October 2023, Pages 333–335, https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/pxad020 Published: 27 April 2023 Article history Received: 01 February 2023 Accepted: 14 April 2023 Published: 27 April 2023

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Infant with a widespread papulonodular rash

  Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health · 2023-04-15

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  A 2-month-old Somali boy presented to the paediatric dermatology clinic with a 6-week history of a rash on his trunk and extremities. It started just 2 weeks after birth and worsened over time, with lesions spreading to cover most of his body, including his trunk, extremities, palms, soles and scalp. He was initially seen by his primary paediatrician and was treated with triamcinolone and petroleum jelly for presumed atopic dermatitis but did not demonstrate significant improvement. He was referred to paediatric dermatology for further evaluation. In the paediatric dermatology clinic, physical examination revealed multiple slightly erythematous papules, pustules and nodules diffusely on his trunk, groin, extremities, palms, soles and scalp (Fig. 1). Further questioning revealed that multiple family members who lived in a small apartment with the patient had similar rashes. What is the diagnosis? (Answer on page 81)

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Chronic Crusted Plaque after Skin Injury

  The Journal of Pediatrics · 2023-10-12

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A 5‐year‐old boy with an acquired vascular lesion on the nose

  Pediatric Dermatology · 2022-05-18

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

  PublisherDOI

• A 7‐year‐old with an acquired lip lesion

  Pediatric Dermatology · 2022-09-01

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Worsening ulceration of infantile hemangioma after initiation or escalation of propranolol

  Pediatric Dermatology · 2022 · 9 citations

  • Medicine
  • Pediatrics
  • Dermatology

  For infantile hemangiomas (IH) requiring treatment, including those in high-risk locations or in the setting of ulceration, oral propranolol is first-line therapy. Here, we present three cases of infantile hemangioma with worsening ulceration following initiation or escalation of oral propranolol at standard doses.

  PublisherDOI

• Development and Initial Validation of a Novel System to Assess Ichthyosis Severity

  JAMA Dermatology · 2022 · 12 citations

  • Medicine
  • Dermatology
  • Clinical psychology

  IMPORTANCE: A comprehensive, user-friendly system to assess global ichthyosis disease burden is imperative to improving the care of patients with ichthyosis, identifying appropriate participants for clinical trials, and quantifying treatment outcomes. To our knowledge, there is currently no validated scale to objectively and systematically measure ichthyosis severity across the entire body. OBJECTIVE: To create and evaluate a comprehensive and user-friendly instrument to measure total body ichthyosis severity in adults and children. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: In this qualitative study, ichthyosis experts participated in the content development of the Ichthyosis Scoring System (ISS). The body was divided into 10 regions, and Likert scales (0-4) were created to quantify scale and erythema, with extensive descriptors and photographic standards. An 83-image teaching set was created from photographs of participants with ichthyosis. Two cohorts of dermatologists (11 total) independently scored all test photographs twice to evaluate interrater and intrarater reliabilities. Participants were enrolled worldwide from referral centers and patient advocacy groups. Participants of all ages, races, and ethnicities were included in the creation of ISS, and dermatologists with varying experience and areas of expertise participated as raters to evaluate the ISS. The study was conducted from 2019 to 2021, and the data were analyzed in 2021. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Intraclass correlation coefficients determined overall reliabilities. RESULTS: Across both cohorts of 11 dermatologists in total, the intraclass correlation coefficients for total, scale and erythema scores were greater than 0.90 (95% CI, 0.77-0.97), greater than 0.91 (95% CI, 0.79-0.98), and greater than 0.88 (95% CI, 0.72-0.97), respectively. Most body sites exhibited moderate to good interrater reliabilities for scale and erythema. Intrarater reliabilities were good to excellent. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The results of this qualitative study demonstrate reproducibility and suggest that the ISS is a reliable system to measure global ichthyosis severity in adults and children.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Child with Swelling and Discoloration of the Fingertip

  Pediatrics in Review · 2022-08-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Sheilagh Maguiness

  Fairview Health Services

  7 shared

• Christina Boull

  University of Minnesota

  7 shared

• Brooke Hanson

  University of Alberta

  5 shared

• Kristen P. Hook

  University of Minnesota

  5 shared

• Sarah L. Stein

  University of Chicago

  4 shared

• DeAnn Lazovich

  University of Minnesota Medical Center

  4 shared

• Sarah T. Arron

  3 shared

• Daniel D. Miller

  University of Minnesota

  3 shared