Tumoricidal activity of lauryl gallate towards chemically induced skin tumours in mice.

Lauryl gallate (antioxidant food additive E-312) prevents the formation of dimethylbenzanthracene-induced skin tumours in mice, and kills, selectively, tumoral cells on established tumours. This results in total remission, after topical application of the compound on the tumoral mass, without affecting the surrounding tissue.

Magnetic resonance imaging in cavitary choroidal melanoma.

PURPOSE: To report the development of a cavitary choroidal melanoma in a patient with nevus of Ota and describe its magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features. PATIENT: A 66-year-old man with right oculodermal melanocytosis and an ipsilateral choroidal cavitary melanoma was seen. Diagnosis was suspected on the clinical, ultrasonographic and MRI findings. RESULTS: T1-weighted image showed a hyperintense solid mass containing hypointense cystic-like spaces delineated by hyperintense septa with respect to the vitreous. The reverse image was observed on T2-weighted images. A choroidal melanoma comprising epithelioid and spindle cells with multilocular cavities was documented histopathologically. CONCLUSIONS: There may be an association between cavitary melanoma and nevus of Ota. Characteristic MRI findings could be helpful in the differential diagnosis of cavitary uveal melanoma.

Self-healing cutaneous mucinosis.

Self-healing juvenile cutaneous mucinosis is a new entity distinct from previously described forms of cutaneous mucinosis. We present a new case in a 26-year-old female patient who began abruptly with a papular eruption, involving the scalp, face, neck and trunk, accompanied by periarticular papules on the hands and arthralgias. No associated disease could be detected and the lesions resolved spontaneously within a few months. This is the first case described in an adult patient.

QBEND/10 (anti-CD34 antibody) in external root sheath cells and follicular tumors.

The human hematopoietic progenitor cell antigen (CD34) is a cell surface protein expressed by human hematopoietic progenitor cells, vascular endothelium, and many mesenchymal tumors. Sections from six samples of normal skin and from 41 epithelial tumors of the skin were studied. Immunostaining of epithelial cells from the external root sheath below the attachment of the arrector pili muscle and above the matrix cells was noted in normal samples. Tumors derived from or differentiated toward cells of the outer sheath, especially trichilemmomas, were immunostained with QBEND/10 (anti-CD34 antibody), whereas other epithelial tumors studied were negative. CD34 could serve as a marker of outer sheath cell derivation and may well be of value in the distinction between trichilemmomas and other lesions with similar histopathological features.

Lymphomatoid granulomatosis presenting as angioedema.

We describe a patient with severe eyelid and lip angioedema lesions in whom biopsy specimens from angioedematous labial mucosa disclosed features of lymphomatoid granulomatosis. To our knowledge, angioedema lesions with characteristic histological findings of lymphomatoid granulomatosis have not been previously described as a presenting sign of this disease.

Periarticular fibrous nodules in Lyme borreliosis.

Periarticular fibrous nodules have been described in patients with late-phase acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (ACA) in the setting of Lyme borreliosis. We report the clinical and histopathological study of two patients with periarticular fibrous nodules and with Lyme borreliosis and discuss the relationship between these nodules and ACA.

Neutrophilic eccrine hidradenitis in two neutropenic patients.

Neutrophilic eccrine hidradenitis is an uncommon, self-limited dermatosis with a variable clinical presentation. It seems to be due to chemotherapeutic drugs in most cases. Necrosis of the eccrine gland associated with a neutrophilic infiltrate is the histologic hallmark of this disease. We report two additional cases in neutropenic patients with acute myelogenous leukemia in which there was a striking lack of neutrophil infiltration. A new term, drug-associated eccrine hidradenitis, is suggested.

Morphologic diversity in malignant melanomas.

A review was conducted of 335 malignant melanomas to identify variant morphologic patterns that might be confused with other tumors. In all, 27 predominantly amelanotic neoplasms with unusual histologic features were selected for additional study. These included nine with an adenoid or pseudopapillary pattern, seven small cell neoplasms, five with prominent myxoid stroma, four with a hemangiopericytoma-like appearance, and two composed of neoplastic cells with a signet-ring configuration. A diagnosis of melanoma was confirmed in all cases by Fontana-Masson strains for melanin pigment, electron microscopic examination, or the results of immunohistochemical analyses for cytokeratin, vimentin, S-100 protein, and the HMB-45 antigen. One tumor was associated with a congenital hairy melanocytic nevus, five were vulvovaginal lesions, four arose in the sinonasal tract, and one occurred in the rectum. Four of the specified microscopic patterns were observed in both primary and secondary neoplasms; the two signet-ring cell melanomas were recurrent lesions. The authors conclude that malignant melanomas may assume the histologic guise of adenocarcinomas, small cell carcinomas, and sarcomas, in a variety of tissue sites. Special studies designed to detect melanocytic differentiation are therefore appropriate in diverse differential diagnostic settings.

Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma of the salivary gland. Fine needle aspiration cytologic findings.

A case of epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma of the salivary gland in a 78-year-old patient is presented. Fine needle aspiration cytologic smears showed a moderate number of tumor cells arranged in three-dimensional, well-outlined clusters reminiscent of the ball-like structures of adenoid cystic carcinoma. The nuclei were small and monotonous, with finely granular chromatin and small nucleoli. A large number of cells showed abundant clear cytoplasm; however, in some of the clusters the cytoplasms were very scant, again mimicking adenoid cystic carcinoma. Fragments of pale homogeneous acellular material, isolated or surrounding the cellular clusters, were another conspicuous finding.

Vegetating iododerma with underlying systemic diseases: report of three cases.

Three patients with vegetating iododerma as a result of potassium iodide therapy are presented. The first patient had polyarteritis nodosa, the second had monoclonal gammopathy of undertermined significance, and the third had multiple myeloma. Vegetating iododerma probably represents an idiosyncratic response to iodides; patients with polyarteritis nodosa and paraproteinemias may be predisposed.