Lipomatose simétrica benigna e pelagra, associadas ao alcoolismo / Benign symmetrical lipomatosis and pellagra associated with alcoholism

A 42-year-old male patient, alcoholic, presented showing signs of tumors in the neck and around the shoulders, scaly, erythematous-violaceous lesions and some bullous lesions in sun-exposed areas of upper and lower limbs. Based on clinical features, laboratory tests and imaging studies we have established the diagnosis of pellagra associated with benign symmetrical lipomatosis, both justified by chronic alcoholism. Treated with intravenous B-complex and oriented about the importance of alcohol withdrawal, the patient showed complete remission of skin lesions, but with no change in the lipomatosis.

Paciente masculino, 42 anos, etilista crônico, apresentando quadro de tumorações em região cervical e ao redor dos ombros, lesões eritemato-violáceas, descamativas e algumas lesões bolhosas, nas áreas fotoexpostas dos membros superiores e inferiores. Baseado no quadro clínico e nos exames complementares, foi estabelecido o diagnóstico de pelagra associada à lipomatose simétrica benigna, sendo ambos os quadros justificados pelo etilismo crônico. Tratado com reposição de complexo B intravenoso e orientado quanto à importância da abstinência alcoólica, apresentou remissão completa do quadro cutâneo, porém sem alteração da lipomatose.

Pelagra: relato de 34 casos / Pellagra: report of 34 cases

Trinta e quatro casos de pelegra foram observados no Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro no período de 1978 a 1991: 22 pacientes do sexo masculino e 12 do sexo feminino, todos acima de 30 anos de idade e alcoólatras crônicos, apresentaram principalmente no seu quadro, a dermnatite de áreas expostas. É discutida a freqüência desta condiçäo em nosso meio

Alcoholic pellagra encephalopathy combined with Wernicke disease

Clinical and postmortem findings of a case that had combined alcoholic pellagra encephalopathy and Wernicke disease are described. This 51-year-old malnourished and chronic alcoholic man presented with progressive mental deterioration, pellagra dermatitis, hypertonus of the neck and other musculatures, myoclonic jerks with bizarre involuntary movements, in addition to total external ophthalmoplegia and gait disturbance. After administration of multivitamins, including thiamine and nicotinamide, these neurologic abnormalities were dramatically improved in a few days. However, the patient died thereafter because of sepsis associated with pneumonia. Postmortem examination revealed marked abnormalities in CNS, characterized by diffuse atrophy of gray matter and widespread neuronal degeneration and characteristic central chromatolysis in pontine nuclei, dentate nuclei, cranial nerve nuclei in the brain stem, Betz cells of the cerebral cortex, and Clarke's column and anterior horn cells of the spinal cord. There were also atrophy and gliosis of the mammillary bodies, degeneration and vascular proliferation of periaqueductal gray matter, and massive gliosis around the third ventricle. These neuropathological changes were compatible with symptoms of both alcoholic pellagra encephalopathy and Wernicke's disease, but they were also strongly suspected on clinical grounds.