ABSTRACT
Bone sarcoidosis of the skull is an infrequent presentation of sarcoidosis. We describe a 51-year-old man who consulted due to inflammatory-appearing nodulation in the right supraorbital region. Images showed a solitary osteolytic lesion extending to soft tissues with increased scintigraphic uptake. The anatomopathological study revealed the presence of non-caseating epithelioid granulomas, compatible with sarcoidosis. Steroid treatment led to a marked remission of the lesion, without evidence of relapse during a follow-up period of 1 year. The literature dealing with skull sarcoidosis is reviewed.
Subject(s)
Craniocerebral Trauma/diagnosis , Osteolysis/diagnosis , Sarcoidosis/diagnosis , Skull/pathology , Biopsy , Diagnosis, Differential , Gallium Radioisotopes/therapeutic use , Granuloma/pathology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Steroids/therapeutic use , Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methods , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Cutaneous horn (cornu cutaneum) is a morphological designation for a protuberant mass of keratin that resembles the horn of an animal. It results from unusual cohesiveness of keratinized material from the superficial layers of the skin or implanted deeply in the cutis. This lesion may be associated with a benign, premalignant, or malignant lesion at the base, masking numerous conditions. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 48 cases of cutaneous horns of the eyelid treated between 1992 and 2002 has been performed. RESULTS: Twenty-four men and 19 women, with a mean age of 62 years (range 16-90), were treated by surgery. Histologically, 77.1% were associated with benign specimens at the base pathology, 14.6% were premalignant, and finally, 8.3% were caused by malignant skin tumors. The most common lesion was seborrheic keratosis among the benign lesions, actinic keratosis among the premalignant ones, and basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma among the malignant ones. CONCLUSION: Cutaneous horns usually appear on exposed skin areas in elderly men. The important issue in this condition is not the horn itself, which is just dead keratin, but rather the nature of the underlying disease, although the horns are usually benign.
