Acquired vulvar lymphangioma: a case series with emphasis on expanding clinical contexts.

Vulvar lymphangioma circumscriptum (LC) is an unusual benign condition, congenital or acquired, related to interference in the lymph drainage. Acquired cases are usually related to oncological surgical procedures. We report 6 cases of vulvar LC: 3 have been caused by surgery and radiotherapy for gynecologic cancer, whereas the other 3 have originated under benign conditions--Crohn disease, recurring episodes of cellulits, and lower limb lymphedema. In 3 of them, the initial clinical diagnosis was genital wart. Surgical exeresis was performed as the treatment of choice in 5 patients and there were 3 cases of recurrences. Diagnosis of this unusual condition is not always easy even after histopathologic examination. The possibility of vulvar LC should be taken into account as a possible diagnosis in patients with previous oncological surgery or genital warts refractory to the conventional treatment. In these cases, a biopsy of not only the epidermis but also the superficial dermis is recommendable to rule out inflammatory or tumoral processes. Knowledge on the features of this lesion can avoid unnecessary clinical and therapeutic procedures.

Determining prognosis after spinal cord injury.

INTRODUCTION: Disability following traumatic spine injury often requires assessment for judicial reasons. OBJECTIVE: To determine the optimum time to carry out a medico-legal evaluation. METHODS: Retrospective study (1995-2000) of patients with traumatic spine injury with a follow-up of five years. The American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) scale was used to determine level and extent of the injury. Statistical analysis by SPSS 11.0. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: 173 injuries were analyzed (39.3% ASIA A; 15.6% ASIA B; 29.47% ASIA C; 15.6% ASIA D). Neurological improvement was detected in 35.83%, more frequently in incomplete injuries. ASIA A injuries remained mainly complete from admission to discharge and in no case reached functional levels. Only a third of ASIA B patients showed improvement, of whom 33.3% were functional. Improvement in ASIA C patients was 76.4%, these and all ASIA D patients were functional on discharge. The condition a year after the injury remained unchanged in all cases, regardless of the extent of injury. Patients who showed improvement did so early on, mainly during hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: The optimum time for evaluation of spinal cord injury for medicolegal purposes is at one year after the injury. In cases of complete injury, evaluation can be carried out on discharge with no need to wait for one year.

Multinucleate cell angiohistiocytoma. Report of five cases.

BACKGROUND: Multinucleate cell angiohistiocytoma is an infrequent and most likely non-neoplastic disorder usually seen in acral regions in elderly women. It presents clinically as asymptomatic red-to-brown tumors, with a tendency to confluence. It must be distinguished from other diverse cutaneous lesions, notably dermatofibroma, Kaposi sarcoma, and angiofibroma. METHODS: We report the clinical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical findings of five patients, all women aged between 51 and 78 years. All except the first presented lesions on both of the lower limbs. None of the patients developed spontaneous resolution of the lesions and one was successfully treated by cryosurgery. COMMENTS: Multinucleate cells are characteristic, but neither exclusive nor pathognomonic, of multinucleate cell angiohistiocytoma, since they can also appear in other inflammatory, neoplastic, or reactive processes. The presence of these cells and vascular proliferation in dermis media are the principal histopathological findings in this infrequent entity. In immunohistochemical studies, the multinucleate cells are often positive for vimentin and factor XIIIa.