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In two cases of elastosis perforans serpiginosa (EPS) new clinical and laboratory data are described and discussed. In Case 1, EPS was triggered by penicillamine-D within an unusually short period (about one year). In Case 2, EPS was apparently primarily triggered by a vena puncture. In both cases the light and electron microscopic findings were strictly compatible with EPS. These findings are summarized. In the active lesions of both cases increased numbers of helper T-cells and Langerhans cells were shown, while cytotoxic-suppressor T-cells were nearly completely absent. Leu 3a[sup+] cells and Leu 6[sup+] cells were also present in the inactive central area of the lesions. The data presented may cast doubt on the relationship of immunological findings to pathogenetic events in the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pathologic findings in the skin in a new case of toxic shock syndrome (TSS) are detailed and are discussed in view of previously reported data on TSS in the literature. Necrolysis of keratinocytes at different levels of the epidermis in combination with a predominantly perivascular lymphocytic infiltrate were characteristic features in lesional skin biopsy specimens obtained 5 days after the onset of acute illness and during the development of erythroderma with purpura and diffuse intravasal coagulation. Prominent vascular changes in the skin, which have not been reported before in TSS, were excited endothelial cells in combination with the presence of thrombi in the superficial capillaries. Histopathologic investigations of the dermatitis in TSS can be helpful in differentiating this, syndrome from other acute toxic skin eruptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tissue specimens were taken from three regions in a patient with oral progressive lupus erythematosus (LE): the tongue, the buccal mucosa and clinically uninvolved cutaneous tissue. They were subjected to immunocytochemical studies by use of markers. HLA-DR antigen expression on mucosal epithelial cells was found in association with a predominance of activated helper T-Cells in the lesional tissue. Langerhans cells (OKT-6) and B-cells (Leu-IO, B1 and B2) were nearly absent in the mucosal lesions. The presence of populations of macrophages (MY-4) in the lesional epithelium might suggest an important role for these cells, rather than for Langerhans cells, in the afferent limb of cellular immunity in this case of LE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A patient developed an exanthem after inhalation of mercury vapors. Clinically and histopathologically the exanthem resembled an erythema exudativum multiformelike drug eruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]