Malignant melanomas normally arise at the dermoepidermal junction. Development of these tumours in deeper layers of the dermis without having contact with the junction is rare. A small congenital melanocytic nevus localized in the region of the waist band was excised because of mechanical irritation; it had not shown any changes over years. A thorough examination of the whole body did not give any clue to a malignant melanoma. Histologically a compound nevus with the typical architecture of a congenital melanocytic nevus was found. In the deeper dermis there was an isolated nodule of extremely atypical melanocytes with minimal pigmentation of melanin. S100 antigen could be demonstrated throughout the whole tumour whereas HMB45 was only found at the dermoepidermal junction. There was no marking of the tumour cells with a pancytokeratin antibody. A histological relationship between the new tumour and a mixed tumour of the left testicle, which had been excised 3 years ago, could be excluded. We did not find any metastases neither by image-aided methods nor by sentinel lymph node biopsy.

Therapy of Darier disease is rarely satisfactory. Oral retinoids can improve the skin lesions. Because of previous positive results with topical retinoids, which were often not practical because of marked skin irritation, two patients were treated with the new, topical acetylene-retinoid tazarotene in a 0.01% gel preparation. In both patients skin cleared within 2 to 4 weeks. After stopping the medication patients did not develop any new skin lesions for 12 months. In a third patient, healing with tazarotene gel 0.025% was faster than with a topical preparation containing 10% urea. Tazarotene is an important addition to the therapeutic possibilities in Darier disease.

Abstract Background Subacute prurigo (SP) is a relatively common disease of papular cutaneous lesions that itch intensely. However, there is a lack of systematic clinical and histological studies on SP. Objectives We aimed to immunophenotype inflammatory cells in SP using immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. Methods Lesional and non-lesional skin of 21 patients with SP was investigated. Immunohistochemical staining for CD1a, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD15, CD34, CD68, and anti-human tryptase (AHT) was performed. In order to evaluate the absolute counts and percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of SP patients, flow cytometric methods were used. Results Compared to non-lesional skin, there was a significant increase of the median percentage of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ cells in the lesional dermis (12.6% vs. 19.7%, P = 0.044; 0.8% vs. 3.7%, P = 0.016; and 1% vs. 15.6%, P = 0.0039, respectively). The mean +/- SD CD4+/CD8+ ratio was 0.58 +/- 0.6. Median percentage of CD15+ cells was significantly increased in lesional skin as compared to non-lesional skin (11.7 vs. 1%, P = 0.027). Median percentage immunoreactivity of CD68+ cells was significantly increased in lesional dermis as compared to non-lesional skin (32.5% vs. 9.4%, P = 0.0005). CD1a, CD34, and AHT positive cells did not significantly differ between lesional and non-lesional skin. T lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood of SP patients did not show significant pathologies. Conclusions We observed that the inflammatory cell infiltrate in SP mainly consists of T lymphocytes, particularly CD8+ cells, CD15+ neutrophils, and CD68+ macrophages.

Background: Although foam sclerotherapy of varicose tributaries is common in daily practice, scientific evidence for the optimal sclerosant-concentration and session-frequency is still low. This study aimed to increase the knowledge on foam sclerotherapy of varicose tributaries and to evaluate the efficacy and safety of foam sclerotherapy with 0.5 % polidocanol in tributaries with 3-6 mm in diameter. Patients and methods: Analysis of 110 legs in 76 patients. Injections were given every second or third day. A maximum of 1 injection / leg and a volume of 2ml / injection were administered per session. Controls were performed approximately 6 months and 12 months after the start of therapy. Results: 110 legs (CEAP C2-C4) were followed up for a period of 14.2 +/- 4.2 months. Reflux was eliminated after 3.4 +/- 2.7 injections per leg. Insufficient tributaries were detected in 23.2 % after 6.2 +/- 0.9 months and in 48.2 % after 14.2 +/- 4.2 months, respectively. Only 30.9 %(34 / 110) of the legs required additional therapy. In 6.4 % vein surgery was performed, in 24.5 % similar sclerotherapy was repeated. Significantly fewer sclerotherapy-sessions were required compared to the initial treatment (mean: 2.3 +/- 1.4, p = 0.0054). During the whole study period thrombophlebitis (8.2 %), hyperpigmentation (14.5 %), induration in the treated region (9.1 %), pain in the treated leg (7.3 %) and migraine (0.9 %) occurred. One patient with a history of thrombosis developed thrombosis of a muscle vein (0.9 %). After one year there were just hyperpigmentation (8.2 %) and induration (1.8 %) left. No severe adverse effect occurred. Conclusions: Foam sclerotherapy with injections of 0.5 % polidocanol every 2nd or 3rd day, is a safe procedure for varicose tributaries. The evaluation of efficacy is difficult, as it can hardly be said whether the detected tributaries in the controls are recurrent veins or have recently developed in the follow-up period. The low number of retreated legs indicates a high efficacy and satisfaction of the patients.

The frequency of venous diseases makes a simple screening method desirable. The aim of this study was to evaluate a questionnaire as a screening instrument for varicose veins as compared to venous refilling time measured by photoplethysmography. In 1830 industrial employees a survey and a photoplethysmography were performed. According to the venous refilling time (vRT), patients were classified as "healthy" or "morbid". The answers were compared. In 31.9% a pathological vRT </=25 seconds was found. The prevalence of a pathological vRT increased with age. The survey answers referring to venous disease in their parents, thrombophlebitis, leg swelling, leg heaviness, hyperpigmentation and visible varicosities were able to distinguish between persons with physiological and pathological vRT. The questionnaire acquired a specificity of >90% if symptoms were characterized as "repeatedly"/"marked". There was significant concordance between the questionnaire answers and the vRT measurement. Thus, both methods are applicable for screening of venous disease. Particularly, the questionnaire allows a simple, patient-based estimation of the individual risk.

AIM: Although compression therapy is the corner stone of phlebological therapy, less is known about the patients' view of compression. The aim of the study was to answer the following questions: Are there differences in the use of compression and the quality of life during compression therapy depending on the device (bandages, stocking [medical compression stockings, MCS], length, compression class) or indication of compression? METHODS: Questioning of 200 consecutive phlebological patients (C2-C6) with a compression therapy time of >2 weeks. Analysis of 110 returned questionnaires (rate of return 55%). RESULTS: Twenty-nine point one percent voted the therapy as "comfortable". About 37% of the patients had an improvement of their leg symptoms by using compression therapy. Most patients (105/110) wore their compression therapy for more than 6 hours/day. The main side effects were dryness of the skin (58.5%), itching (32.7%), slipping (29.1%) or constriction of the compression device (24.5%). There were no significant differences in the side effect spectrum or the usage according to the type of compression device or the indication for the treatment (varicose surgery/ sclerotherapy). Patients with a leg ulcer and longer duration of compression therapy experienced a worse quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Patients accept the recommended compression therapy (alone or in combination with other phlebological therapies) as a necessary therapy. Compression devices are really used by the patients. According to the main side effect (dryness of the skin), improvement is essential (skin care, caring MCS). Especially patients with indication for a long-term or even life-long compression therapy should be advised in detail.

Abstract Objective Minichromosome maintenance (MCM) nuclear proteins have barely been employed in the diagnosis of skin malignancies. We aimed to assess whether MCM immunohistochemistry can be utilized to examine tumour proliferation in Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). Methods In this pilot study, we studied skin specimens of eight patients with MCC. As a control, eight patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma (MM) were included. Immunohistochemistry was performed for MCM4, MCM6, MCM7, Ki-67, p53, and p21. Results Protein expression of MCM4 (66.0 +/- 26.5% vs. 33.9 +/- 22.4%; P = 0.017), MCM6 (70.9 +/- 11.9 vs. 31.7 +/- 22.7; P = 0.0031), and MCM7 (76.5 +/- 16.4% vs. 34.9 +/- 25.5%; P = 0.0013) was significantly increased in tumour cells of MCC when compared to tumour cells of MM. Ki-67 immunoreactivity was also significantly higher in MCC than in MM (28.7 +/- 7.9 vs. 11.0 +/- 9.2; P = 0.0012). Immunolabelling of p53 (68.6 +/- 26.2 vs. 58.4 +/- 28.8; P = 0.46) and p21 (40.1 +/- 38.8 vs. 25.8 +/- 16.1; P = 0.35) was relatively high but not significantly increased in MCC when compared to MM. Conclusion Our preliminary data indicate that MCM immunohistochemistry may be a useful tool for the determination of tumour cell proliferation in MCC. Conflicts of interest None declared.

Background Antimicrobial peptides and proteins (AMPs) are widely distributed effector molecules of the innate immune system with well-known antibacterial activity. However, there is a paucity of information regarding antiviral effects of AMPs. Objectives The present study was performed to analyse expression of AMPs in human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated anal skin lesions of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive men who have sex with men (MSM), a special high-risk group for persistent HPV infections and anal dysplasia. Methods Skin lesions were analysed for the presence of LL-37, RNase 7, and human beta-defensin (hBD)-1, hBD-2 and hBD-3. Moreover, HPV typing and HPV DNA load determination for HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31 and 33 were performed to evaluate possible correlations between expression of AMPs and lesional HPV types. Results Skin biopsies of 45 HIV-positive MSM with anal intraepithelial neoplasia (AIN), anal condylomata acuminata or unaffected anal mucosa, as well as condylomata acuminata of eight HIV-negative MSM, were analysed for AMP mRNA expression. Additionally, immunohistochemical analysis for hBD-2 and hBD-3 was performed in a total of 45 samples. hBD-2 and hBD-3 gene and protein expression was significantly increased in both AIN and condyloma, whereas LL-37, RNase 7 and hBD-1 gene expression did not differ significantly from unaffected anal mucosa. AMP expression correlated neither with the number of HPV types nor with the high-risk and low-risk HPV DNA loads of the quantified types. No significant differences in AMP expression were observed in condylomata of HIV-positive and HIV-negative MSM. Conclusions hBD-2 and hBD-3 expression was shown to be significantly upregulated in HPV-associated anal skin lesions of both HIV-positive and HIV-negative MSM. Their biological significance in the innate immunity against these lesions needs further research.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC), the most common cutaneous malignant tumor, may display neuroendocrine differentiation in very rare instances. We here describe a case of a BCC with neuroendocrine differentiation that arose in a scar resulting from a trauma 75 years earlier. Neuroendocrine differentiation was proven by immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. The simultaneous occurrence of BCC development in a scar and neuroendocrine differentiation is quite rare.

Sneddon's syndrome is a rarely seen disorder and it is characterized by livedo reticularis (LR) and neurologic findings. Some systematic findings may also be seen with neurologic and cutaneous findings. In this case, we aimed to present a 28-year-old female patient with diffuse LR, cardiac valve disease and migraine-type headache who had a right hemiplegic attack.

Clear cell fibrous papule (FP) is a rare variant of FP. We report a 39-year-old female patient who presented with a dome-shaped papule on the nose. The diagnosis of clear cell FP was made based on histological and immunohistochemical studies. Interestingly, scattered S-100 cells were admixed within the lesion, a finding hitherto not reported. The S-100 positivity may be misleading and should be cautiously interpreted.

We present the case of a 57-year-old male with primary squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid (PSCCT). Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) staining was strongly positive. Pharmaceuticals targeting EGFR may provide an additional therapeutic option for this rare disease with extremely poor prognosis. Laryngoscope, 119:89-90, 2009.

Osseointegrated dental implants are increasingly used in the rehabilitation of the dental patient. They have a particular role in dental rehabilitation following treatment for oral cancer. Data is presented that suggests that, in the at risk patient, squamous cell carcinoma may develop in association with dental implants.

Carotid dissection and cerebral infarction are extremely rare complications of tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. We describe a 12-year-old boy who presented with a right internal carotid dissection and right middle cerebral artery infarction, associated with tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. We discuss the risk factors that may predispose patients to these complications.

Meningiomas are the most common of the benign intracranial neoplasms. They are uncommon as primary or secondary extracranial entities. Of these, the primary intraosseous variant may represent the rarest form. We report the case of a rare primary intraosseous meningioma presenting as a localized, symptom-free supraorbital bony expansion in an 81-year-old female patient and tabulate the previously reported cases of primary intraosseous meningiomas of the craniomaxillofacial region for analysis.

During treatment with azithromycin, a 55 year-old woman developed a newly prolonged QT interval and torsade de pointes in the absence of known risk factors. Female gender and acute renal failure may be considerations in patients treated with azithromycin.

We describe a 45-year-old woman receiving infliximab therapy for rheumatoid arthritis who developed an overwhelming Plasmodium falciparum infection with cerebral malaria. Physicians should be aware that patients receiving tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, such as infliximab, may be at increased risk of life-threatening malarial infections.

Follicular keratosis may be a rare paraneoplastic disease having unknown etiopathogeny that is sometimes associated to myeloma whose diagnosis and evolution follow a parallel course. We describe the case of a 57-year-old female patient diagnosed of multiple myeloma 8 years ago. She developed generalized follicular hyperkeratotic spicules coinciding with leukemization of the myeloma.