Digital photography for the dermatologist.

Dermatology is a specialty reliant on presenting detailed and accurate visual observations. Digital photography is a highly prevalent and accessible technology that can be easily incorporated into a dermatology practice to facilitate documentation and communication of clinical findings. Dermatologists will benefit from being comfortable with digital photography and techniques to improve their photography skills. This review presents the fundamentals of photography and techniques helpful in capturing an adequate image. We explore the application of photography in the setting of microscopy, dermatopathology, dermatoscopy, and Wood's lamp. Lastly, new imaging technologies, such as multispectral and infrared imaging, are discussed.

Detection of coxsackievirus A6 in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded skin biopsy specimens using immunohistochemistry and real-time reverse-transcriptase PCR.

Background: Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), classically a childhood viral infection, has an atypical and severe clinical presentation in adults. Coxsackievirus A6 is a leading cause of atypical HFMD, but current diagnostic methods utilizing formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded skin biopsy specimens often lack sensitivity and specificity. Methods: Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded skin biopsies from seven case patients with clinical and histopathological suspicion of atypical HFMD were evaluated by coxsackievirus A6 (CVA6) immunohistochemistry, enterovirus-specific conventional reverse transcriptase-PCR with subsequent Sanger sequencing targeting the 5'UTR, and CVA6-specific real-time PCR targeting the VP1 gene. Results: The CVA6-specific antibody demonstrated appropriate antigen distribution and staining intensity in keratinocytes in all cases. Conventional RT-PCR and sequencing also detected the presence of enterovirus, and CVA6-specific real-time RT-PCR analysis identified CVA6. Conclusion: Applying these immunohistochemistry and molecular techniques to formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues, CVA6 was determined to be the causative infectious agent in seven cases of atypical hand, foot, and mouth disease.

Muir-Torre Syndrome.

A 64-year-old man was referred to our dermatology clinic with a diagnosis of Muir-Torre syndrome (MTS), he had a history of multiple sebaceous carcinomas and sebaceous adenomas removed over the years. The patient has also had visceral cancer and had undergone a colon resection 17 years before to treat colon cancer and was recently diagnosed with invasive high-grade urothelial carcinoma of the right ureter. In addition, the patient has an extensive family history of cancer; a pedigree was constructed to document this history (Figure 1). Of note is that the patient's mother and father were second cousins. The patient's father was diagnosed with lung cancer at age 57 and died of colon cancer at the age of 72. The patient's mother died of colon cancer at age 74. The patient has three siblings: a sister and two brothers. The sister died of bone cancer at age 42. One brother had a number of cancers including colon, kidney, and skin cancers and died at age 53. His other brother is alive and has a history of colon cancer, kidney cancer, and ureteral cancer. The patient has five children. He has a 40-year-old son who, at the age of 30, was diagnosed with testicular cancer. His daughters are 47, 44, 39, and 34, with no history of malignancy to date. The patient had three maternal aunts, all of whom succumbed to colon cancer, as well as two paternal uncles who died of lung cancer. The patient's maternal grandfather was a smoker and he also died of lung cancer.

Mycosis Fungoides Involving the Dorsal Tongue.

Mycosis fungoides (MF) is a rare cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) which can cause significant morbidity. During the disease course, it classically will progress through three clinical stages in the skin: patch-, plaque-, and tumor-stage. The early stages exhibit various histopathological mimics that often lead to misdiagnosis. It rarely affects the oral cavity. Oral MF is historically associated with poor prognosis. We present a rare case of MF afflicting the dorsal tongue and extremities of a 72-year-old male.

Generalized eruptive histiocytosis associated with a novel fusion in LMNA-NTRK1.

Non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis (NLCH) is a histiocyte disorder comprised of dermal dendritic histiocytes with a characteristic staining pattern. Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a subset of NLCH in which patients experience bone pain with corresponding changes on imaging. In addition, these patients show other evidence of systemic involvement, which can also be identified with imaging. This disease can occasionally present with cutaneous findings. We present a case of generalized eruptive histiocytosis (GEH), misdiagnosed as ECD, found to have an NTRK1 gene rearrangement. This is the first report of an NTRK1 kinase fusion with NLCH. The implication is unclear and further studies are warranted.

A Comparative Study Between Smartphone-Based Microscopy and Conventional Light Microscopy in 1021 Dermatopathology Specimens.

CONTEXT: The incorporation of high-resolution cameras into smartphones has allowed for a variety of medical applications including the use of lens attachments that provide telescopic, macroscopic, and dermatoscopic data, but the feasibility and performance characteristics of such a platform for use in dermatopathology have not been described. OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic performance of a smartphone microscope compared to traditional light microscopy in dermatopathology specimens. DESIGN: A simple smartphone microscope constructed with a 3-mm ball lens was used to prospectively evaluate 1021 consecutive dermatopathology cases in a blinded fashion. Referred, consecutive specimens from the community were evaluated at a single university hospital. The performance characteristics of the smartphone platform were calculated by using conventional light microscopy as the gold standard. The sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of melanoma, nonmelanoma skin cancers, and other miscellaneous conditions by the phone microscopy platform, as compared with traditional light microscopy, were calculated. RESULTS: For basal cell carcinoma (n = 136), the sensitivity and specificity of smartphone microscopy were 95.6% and 98.1%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity for squamous cell carcinoma (n = 94) were 89.4% and 97.3%, respectively. The lowest sensitivity was found in melanoma (n = 15) at 60%, although the specificity was high at 99.1%. The accuracy of diagnosis of inflammatory conditions and other neoplasms was variable. CONCLUSIONS: Mobile phone-based microscopy has excellent performance characteristics for the inexpensive diagnosis of nonmelanoma skin cancers in a setting where a traditional microscope is not available.

Dissecting the heterogeneity of skin gene expression patterns in systemic sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the heterogeneity of global transcriptome patterns in systemic sclerosis (SSc) skin in a large sample of patients with SSc and control subjects. METHODS: Skin biopsy specimens obtained from 61 patients enrolled in the Genetics versus Environment in Scleroderma Outcome Study (GENISOS) cohort and 36 unaffected control subjects with a similar demographic background were examined by Illumina HumanHT-12 bead arrays. Followup experiments using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemical analysis were also performed. RESULTS: We identified 2,754 differentially expressed transcripts in SSc patients compared with controls. Clustering analysis revealed 2 prominent transcriptomes in SSc patients: the keratin and fibroinflammatory signatures. Higher keratin transcript scores were associated with shorter disease duration and interstitial lung disease, while higher fibroinflammatory scores were associated with diffuse cutaneous involvement, a higher skin score at the biopsy site, and a higher modified Rodnan skin thickness score. A subgroup of patients with significantly longer disease duration had a normal-like transcript pattern. Analysis of cell type-specific signature scores revealed remarkable heterogeneity across patients. Significantly higher scores were calculated for fibroblasts (72% of patients), microvascular cells (61%), macrophages (54%), and dendritic cells (DCs) (49%). The majority of samples with significantly higher fibroblast scores (35 of 44 [80%]) had significantly increased macrophage and/or DC scores. Further analysis and immunohistochemical staining indicated that the keratin signature was not a general marker of keratinocyte activation but was in fact associated with an activation pattern in hair and adnexal structures. CONCLUSION: Prominent fibroinflammatory and keratin signatures are present in SSc skin. Expression profiles of SSc skin show significant heterogeneity, and this finding might be useful for stratifying patients for targeted therapies or predicting the response to immunosuppression.

Hydrochlorothiazide and cutaneous T cell lymphoma: prospective analysis and case series.

BACKGROUND: Mycosis fungoides (MF) and leukemic Sézary syndrome (SS) are the most common cutaneous T cell lymphomas (CTCL), but their etiology remains unknown. After patients were observed with hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ)-associated CTCL, HCTZ was examined as a putative chronic antigen in a cohort of prospectively staged patients. METHODS: Demographic and drug exposure data was examined from 1443 confirmed MF and SS patients. Hypertensive CTCL patients were divided into HCTZ users or nonusers for statistical analysis by chi-square and t tests. Causality in a case series was rated by the Naranjo Adverse Drug Reaction Probability Scale. RESULTS: A total of 815 of 1443 MF and SS patients (56.5%) were hypertensive; 205 (25.2%) were taking HCTZ at initial staging. Comparing stage of patients who were using or not using HCTZ, the most significant difference was between stage I and stage IV (odds ratio of 0.45; 95% confidence interval of 0.25-0.78, P = .003), demonstrating reduced likelihood of being stage IV in patients who were on HCTZ. Seventy-seven percent of the MF patients on HCTZ were stage I. A total of 125 patients of 196 (63.8%) started HCTZ prior to developing CTCL lesions, and 35 of 121 (28.0%) started within 1 year of first skin rash. Thirty-six of 125 patients (28.8%) experienced complete or partial remissions after discontinuing HCTZ. A monoclonal T cell receptor rearrangement was detected more frequently in the hypertensive stage I patients not taking HCTZ as compared with those who were (55.3% vs 69.1%, P = .032). Three patients were rechallenged and developed MF lesions that resolved or improved with discontinuation. CONCLUSIONS: HCTZ is commonly prescribed and may be a putative antigen in a small subset of early MF patients. Careful drug histories and a trial off medication are warranted.

Frey syndrome in a patient with facial melanoma: auriculotemporal syndrome presenting with gustatory sweating following wide local excision, sentinel node biopsy, and superficial parotidectomy.

Frey syndrome is characterized by erythema, flushing, and gustatory sweating in the preauricular area. It most commonly occurs after parotid surgery. A 21-year-old man who had a wide local excision, sentinel node biopsy, and superficial parotidectomy for a right temple superficial spreading melanoma and who subsequently developed gustatory sweating in the preauricular area is described. The presentation, diagnosis, pathogenesis, and treatment options of Frey syndrome are reviewed.