INTERNA Tional JOURNAL of Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases
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INIFR--:" I ION.o\ .. JOI' M:'\AI. 0'- I .F.I'KO.'" Volume :,l6, N umher : ~ ' )1';,,11'(1;11 III.,. U .S.A . INTERNA TIONAl JOURNAL OF lEPROSY And Other Mycobacterial Diseases \'OLUtll E 38, N UMBI·:rt :3 .] lJLy-SI': I'TI':N1 BErt, 1970 Histologic Characteristics of Granuloma Multiforme (Mkar Disease) Including a Comparison with Leprosy and Granuloma Annulare Report of First Case from Congo (Kinshasa) 1 Wayne M. Meyers, Daniel H. Connor and Ralph Shannon!!·3 Granuloma mu)tiformc is a skin disease Clinicall y granuloma multiformc, tuber of unknown cause that clinically resembles culoid leprosy, and granuloma annulare tuberculoid leprosy and granuloma annu have a number of similarities: (1) the lare. Until now the disease has been repoli lesions are usually few; (2) they develop ed only from Nigeria and Kenya. H ere we slowly, and (3 ) plaques expand peripher present clinical and histopathologic findin gs ally while theiT centers become hard and in a patient with granuloma l1lultiforme resolve, producing a circinate pattern. His from Congo (Kin shasa). topathologically, granuloma annulare and The disease was first described by Leiker granuloma multiforme are similar, but tu et a1. (4) in 1964 after a dctailed study of berculoid leprosy has distinctive features. several hundred patients detected in vari Histologic characteristics of the three dis. ous leprosaria in the Mkar area of nOlthern eases are listed in Table 1. Nigeria. Subsequently Browne (2) discov ered 20 patients with granuloma l1lulti REPORT OF A CASE forme among 400 being treated for leprosy A 45 year old Congolese man of the in neighboring eastern Nigeria. More re Baluba tribe was examined in May 1967 cently Leiker and Ziedses des Plantes (3) during a survey of 200 patients under treat and Verhagen et aZ. (7) have observed ment for leprosy at the Kellersberger Mem granuloma multiforme in Kenya. orial Hospital, Bibanga, Kasai Province, Congo. He stated that his deceased father 1 R eceived for publication 28 May 1970. 2 W. M. Meyers, \I.D., Ph.D. , Institll t Medical had had leprosy. He was a lifelong resident Evangelique, Kimpese. Democratic Repllblic of of this area, which is about 60 mil es east of Congo; D. H. Connor, M.D., Geographic Pathology the town of Mbuji Mayi. The region is hilly Di vision , Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C. 2030.5; R. Shannon. M.D., Kell crs· savannah, with sandy soil, and has distinct berger ;Vl emorial Hospital , Bibanga, Lllluabourg, wet and dry seasons. Democratic R epllblic of Congo. Clinical findings. In 1960 the patient :! Dr. Meyers was a Leonard ' ,Vood Memorial· I'\'ational Institlltes of Hea lth fellow in Research noted pruritic papules where well Pa thology in Leprosy at the time this work was d veloped les ions were found on examina done. R f'qllesl for r(!f>rints shollid be addressed to Or. tion-left deltoid, right forearm, right lum D. H. (;onnor. bar, and sacral areas. These papules had 242 International Jou.rnal of Leprosy 1970 TA BI,E L. Dist£u{Juishill{J characteristics of (Jra'lIuloma muil'IJOl'nle, gralltliol1ta allllulare, and luberculm'd leprosy. Granuloma multiforme Granuloma annulare 'fuberculoid leprosy -------------------_._-------------------_._--_. Clinical A diBease of adults. A disease of children. r\ di:;ease of children and finding;; Upper body u ~ u a ll y tn Us u a ll~ ' hands and feet adults. No itching. Sen volved. Le;;ions itch. No in volved, No sensory loss sory los,o; 111 lesions and sensory lo s,.; or nervr en or nerve en la rgemen t. frequrnt nerve enla rg(' largement.. ment , ----------_._----------------------------_._-- Histopathologic Random di,.;tri bution of Foci of coll agen d~'gen e r Granulomas may in volve findings granuloma" tn dermi,.; , at ion ,.; urround('d by a all layers of dermis. No but papillary la.ver gran ul omatous zon('. co llagen degeneration, spa red. Plasma ce ll ,.;, Nerve" in tact. Plasma Nerves damaged, Acid mast ce ll s, and eo"in o cclb, mast ('e ll s, and fast baeilli pre"ent within phils sometim e~ present. eOsin ophil" som(' times nerves. Nerves in tact. Focal co l present. Ly mphocytic in lagen degeneration (3) , as fil trate around \'essels. well as fragmentation and No etiologic agent phagocytosis of ela,.;tica, known. No etiologic agent kn own. ----------------_·------1-----·_---------------------- Re .~ ponse t (> No re"ponse to diamino !\ifa~ ' resolve spontane T end to be se lf-healing, therapy diphenyl ," ulfone, Lesions ously or ma.\' I'('spond to but healing hastened b.v per,.; i"t fo r year" and local steroid". DDS. even tuall~ ' heal spon taneousl.\·. graduall y progressed to form the present Mitsuda-Hayashi lepromin ) produced an lesions, which ranged from 4 to 8 cm. in area 4 mm. wide after 48 hours (Fernandez greatest diameter and had circinate, ele reaction ) and 7 mm. wide after 30 days vated borders ( Figs. 1 and 2). The central ( Mitsuda reaction ). areas were slightly indurated but not ele The patient had taken DDS by mouth vated. Most of the lesions were uniformly (300 mgm. twice a week) for 30 months, hypopigmented but two lesions had a few without improvement. areas of hyperpigmentation, 2 to 3 mm. A biopsy specim en was taken from the wide. In none of the lesions was there loss elevated edge of a lesion in the lumbar of sensitivity to light touch nor to discrimi region and fix ed in cold 10 per cent nation between heat and cold. No cutane formalin. The specimen included a margin ous nerves were palpable and there was no of normal skin. tenderness of nerves. The remainder of the Histopathologic findings. The fix ed bi findings on examination \-"ere normal. opsy specimen was blocked in paraffin, cut Skin smears revealed no acid-fast bacilli at 5 microns, and stained by a combined and skin scrapings revealed no fungi. He trichrome-Fite-Faraco ( TRIFF ) method moglobin was 13.5 gm.j 100 ml., and the ( 8). Later, additional sections were cut, white blood cell count was 8,300/ cmm., and a vari ety of other stains were made. with a distribution of 71 per cent polymor These included hematoxylin-eosin; Fite phonuclear neutrophils, 28 per cent lym Faraco for acid-fast bacilli; Movat's pen phocytes, and 1 per cent eosinophils. tachrome for elastica, mucin, and coll agen; Routine urine and stool examinations and a periodic acid-Schiff; Giemsa; reticulum; chest roentgenogram revealed no abnor Brown and Brenn for bacteri a; and Warth malities. The intracutaneous injection of 0.1 in-Starry for spirochetes. ml. lepromin (Wade modification of the Granulomas were prominent within the 38, 3 Me!J ers et 01 .: Histologic Characteristics of Granuloma .\1I1.ltiforme 243 Flc . 1. Lcsions of th e left deltoid and right lumbar regions are shown. The lesions have raised serpiginous margins which surround a hroad sli gh tl y indurated and sli ghtly hypopigmcnted central zOlle. ( AFIP neg. 69-3643). Flc. 2. Lesion on the left arm. It has a smooth lo\\'er margin and a seripiginous margin ahovt'. ( AFIP Ilcg. 69-8G-L5). 244 International Journal of Leprosy 1970 dermis. They were most conspicuous at the here described is the first reported from margin of the lesion beneath a slight eleva south of the equatorial forest of central tion of the epidermis and were present in Africa. Personal experience (W.M.M.) in all layers of the dermis, except for a narrow dicates that granuloma multiforme is "free" zone beneath the basal layer (Fig. 3, uncommon in Congo. No case has yet been top and Fig. 4 ). The granulomas were not found in the lower Congo or North Kivu circumscribed, and merged with surroun areas ( in the Ituri fores t ) among patients ding dermal collagen. They were composed bein g treated for leprosy, and our patient of epithelioid cells, histiocytes, and was the only one found among 200 patients Langhans' giant cells and contained a few at a single location in the Kasai Province. plasma cells, mast cell s eosinophilic leu Additional surveys are essential ·to deter kocytes, and lymphocytes ( Fig. 5). Reticu mine the prevalence and distribution of lum and collagen fibers traversed the gran granuloma multiforme in Congo. ulomas. No definite evidence of degener The cause of granuloma multiforme is ation of collagen fibers was seen. The col not known. No mi croorganisms have been lagen fi.bers were not tinctorially altered, seen in the lesions, but cultures for bacteria nor had they lost their normal bire and viruses have not been done. An inA am fringence. Between the granulomas, and matory or allergic response to insect bites distinct from them, were scaHered collec or stings has been suggested ( l . ~ ). Ver tions of plasma cells, especially in the loose hagen et al. (7) believe that granuloma connective tissue around the dermal ap multiforme may be a variant of granuloma pendages, vessels, and nerves ( Fig. 6 ). annulare, atypical forms of which have Dermal elasti ca was strikingly reduced been described following bites by the gnat within the lesion, and each of the granulo Culicoides furan s in the Canal Zone (G) . mas contained minute fragments of phago Culicoides sp, are w ide ly distribute d cytosed elastic fibers. Both histiocytes and throughout central Africa, but there is at giant cells contained fragments of elastica present no direct evidence to implicate this ( Fig 3, bottom left and right), and some of or any other insect. the phagocytosed fragments were sur Marshall et al. (5) in a detailed study of rounded by acid mucosaccharide.