RESUMO
Dermatopathology involves study of the microscopic morphology of skin sections. It mirrors pathophysiologic changes occurring at the microscopic level in the skin and its appendages. Sometimes, we come across certain morphologic features that bear a close resemblance to our physical world. These close resemblances are referred to as "appearances" in parlance to dermatopathology. Sometimes, these "appearances" are unique to a certain skin disorder and thus help us to clinch to a definitive diagnosis (e.g., "tadpole" appearance in syringoma). However, frequently, these appearances are encountered in many other skin conditions and can be therefore be misleading. In this paper, we attempt to enlist such "appearances" commonly found in the dermatopathologic literature and also enumerate their differential diagnoses.
RESUMO
For a better understanding of various dermatoses, it is imperative for any physician practising dermatology to have a good theoretical knowledge of the underlying pathophysiologic processes involved in various systemic diseases involving the skin. For an easy grasp over this topic, we have discussed the various phenomena under three broad categories, like (a) clinical - Meyerson, Meirowsky, pathergy, Renbok, (b) laboratory - LE cell, prozone and (c) histopathology - Splendore-Hoeppli.
RESUMO
Background: Mycosis fungoides (MF) is cutaneous lymphoma of the T-cell lineage. Hypopigmented MF is a clinical variant of MF, described mainly in Asians. This is a retrospective clinicopathologic analysis of hypopigmented MF at a tertiary care center. Aims: To describe the clinicopathologic profile of hypopigmented MF. Methods: Records of clinicopathologic notes over a 5-year period ranging from January 2005 up to December 2009 were reviewed over a period of 3 months, of which 15 cases were diagnosed with hypopigmented MF based on clinicopathologic correlation. Results: Hypopigmented MF was found to be more common in males, and between second and fourth decades of life. The latent period between onset and diagnosis was around 3.83 years. Most of the patients were asymptomatic 80% (12/15), with skin changes of subtle atrophy in 46.66% (7/15), scaling in 20% (3/15) and focal changes of poikiloderma in 26.66% (4/15) patients. Most common sites of distribution of the lesions were the trunk and extremities. Many of the cases had been clinically mistaken for Hansen's disease prior to correct diagnosis. Marked epidermotropism and tagging of epidermis by large lymphocytes characterizes the condition histopathologically. Of the 15 cases, immunohistochemistry was possible in 10 cases, of which 8 showed predominant CD8 positive epidermotropic infiltrates and two cases showed absence of CD8 positive and CD4 positive lymphocytic infiltrate in the epidermis. Conclusion: Hypopigmented MF presents as hypopigmented asymptomatic patches without any erythema or infiltration in its early stage and mimics Hansen's disease. Skin biopsy clinches the diagnosis.