American Journal of Dermatopathology 

About: American Journal of Dermatopathology is an academic journal published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Medicine & Nevus. It has an ISSN identifier of 0193-1091. Over the lifetime, 6440 publications have been published receiving 106472 citations.

Eccrine spiradenoma. An electron microscopic study.

Abstract: Electron-microscopic studies of two typical lesions of eccrine spiradenoma were performed to correlate ultrastructure and histopathology. The salient ultramorphological features of the parenchyma were an adenoid cystic organization composed of epithelial, myoepithelial, and nonepithelial cell types, and the presence of intracytoplasmic luminae within the epithelial cells. There were no indications that the parenchyma was secretorily active. The stroma ramified through the parenchyma, occupying extensive areas and forming tenuous septa of the loose connective tissue in which blood vessels and nerve fibers were embedded. Profiles of cystoid spaces resulting from invagination of stroma into the parenchyma were frequently encountered. Based on our observations, eccrine spiradenoma appears to differentiate toward ductal structures of eccrine sweat apparatus.

Nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy.

Abstract: This report details the histopathologic findings in a unique fibrosing disorder that recently emerged among patients with renal disease. The affected patients were initially identified among recipients of renal transplants at a single institution, but later cases at other centers were identified, and included patients receiving renal dialysis for a variety of different kidney diseases. The cutaneous changes consisted largely of indurated plaques and papules on the extremities and trunk. Systemic findings seen in scleromyxedema, which the condition resembles in some respects, were absent. By routine microscopy, the findings range from a very subtle proliferation of dermal fibroblasts in early lesions, to a florid proliferation of fibroblasts and dendritic cells in fully developed cases. Thick collagen bundles with surrounding clefts are a prominent finding, and a variable increase in dermal mucin and elastic fibers was usually evident with special stains. CD-34 positive dermal dendrocytes were floridly abundant, with dendritic processes aligned with elastic fibers and around collagen bundles in a dense network. Factor XIIIa and CD-68 positive mono-and multinucleated cells are also present in increased numbers. Electron microscopy highlighted increased elastic fibers closely apposed to dendritic cell processes. The entire dermis was commonly involved, with increased spindle cells, collagen, mucin, and elastic fibers extending through the subcutis along the septa of fatty lobules. In some instances, the process resembled a sarcoma on histopathologic examination. The recent emergence of this condition and the apparent clustering of cases in specific dialysis centers initially suggested a possible infectious and/or toxic agent. To date, however, no such agent has been identified. We propose the term "nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy (NFD)" until a specific cause can be identified.

Extramammary Paget's disease. A critical reexamination.

Abstract: Fifty-five patients with extramammary Paget's disease were the source of material for this study. Step-sections were done through most of the specimens. Clinical information, including follow-up, was obtained on 45 of the 55 patients. Extramammary Paget's disease could be divided histologically according to where Paget cells were found, namely: 1) wholly within the epidermis and the epithelial structures of adnexa, and the dermis; 3) within the epidermis, the epithelial structures of adnexa, and contiguous epithelia of other organs such as the genitourinary and gastrointestinal tracts. Our conclusions are that extramammary Paget's disease is more than one disease and in most instances begins in the epidermis as an adenocardinoma and extends from there into contiguous epithelium of hair follicles and eccrine sweat ducts. Uncommonly, Paget cells extend from the epidermis into the dermis and from there may metastasize. Rarely, extramammary Paget's disease results from direct extension into the skin of an adenocarcinoma in a contiguous organ such as the genitourinary or gastrointestinal tract.

Evolution, maturation, and regression of lesions of lichen planus. New observations and correlations of clinical and histologic findings.

Abstract: The evolution, maturation, and regression of lesions of psoriasis were studied histologically. The earliest histologic changes in pinhead-sized macules of psoriasis consist of a superficial perivascular infiltrate of lymphocytes and histiocytes and dilation and tortuosity of the blood vessels in the dermal papillae. Some lymphocytes move upward into the spinous zone of the epidermis and slight intercellular edema develops. Above these slight spongiotic foci, and after the granular layer disappears, the cornified layer becomes compact, and parakeratosis and epidermal hyperplasia develop. Only then do neutropils move through the epidermis into the mounds of parakeratosis. These changes, initially focal and episodic, become more confluent and constant, resulting in formation of clinical plaques. In spontaneously resolving lesions, inflammatory cells disappear first, the other changes next, and tortuosity of blood vessels in the dermal papillae last.